Paul H. Patterson

TL;DR: A gut-microbiome-brain connection in a mouse model of ASD is supported and a potential probiotic therapy for GI and particular behavioral symptoms in human neurodevelopmental disorders is identified.

TL;DR: It is shown that the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) is critical for mediating the behavioral and transcriptional changes in the offspring and should be identified as a key intermediary in the molecular dissection of the pathways whereby MIA alters fetal brain development.

TL;DR: It is found that respiratory infection of pregnant mice with the human influenza virus yields offspring that display highly abnormal behavioral responses as adults, as in schizophrenia and autism, and maternal injection of the synthetic double-stranded RNA polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid causes a PPI deficit in the offspring in the absence of virus.

TL;DR: The extensive and diverse requirements for properly regulated cytokine signaling during normal nervous system development revealed by these studies sets the foundation for ongoing and future work aimed at understanding how cytokines induced normally and pathologically during critical stages of fetal development alter nervous system function and behavior later in life.

TL;DR: The human and animal results related to immune involvement suggest novel therapeutic avenues based on immune interventions, which could help to explain some of the heterogeneity of schizophrenia.