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Contact the study team using the details below to take part. If there are no contact details below please ask your doctor in the first instance.
Schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders
This information is provided directly by researchers and we recognise that it isn't always easy to understand. We are working with researchers to improve the accessibility of this information.
Mental health disorders are currently treated based on symptoms. As their origin is poorly understood, diagnosis is based on the physician’s judgement and often results in poor outcome. Efforts to make diagnosis in an unbiased manner are ongoing and one of the main goals of this project is to identify markers to better diagnose mental illness. Abnormality in nerve connections and brain chemical substances known as neurotransmitters have been linked to mental illness especially in those where psychosis is present. Neurotransmitters are chemicals released in junctions between nerve cells known as synapses and they help in their communication. One of the suggestions in the field is that the number of synapses (nerve junctions) present in the developing brain is less in psychotic illness and this could provide us information regarding the illness. The main challenge is to identify the number of synapses in a non-invasive manner in the living human brain.
The availability of a specific molecule (a ‘radiotracer’) which can be labelled with a small amount of radioactivity and imaged using a special scanner (PET – Positron emission tomography) has opened the possibility to measure nerve junctions (synapses). The specific molecule targets a protein present only in nerve junction sites and hence will inform us of the number of nerve junctions. Volunteers will also undergo an MRI scan to obtain their brain structural image. This is an academically study supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and co-sponsored by King’s College London (KCL) and the South London and Maudsley NHS trust (SLaM). Patients diagnosed with psychotic illness will be recruited from the SLaM and screened by doctors at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), KLC will be compared to healthy volunteers. All scans will be carried out at Imanova, Centre for imaging sciences, Hammersmith Hospital site.
Start dates may differ between countries and research sites. The research team are responsible for keeping the information up-to-date.
The recruitment start and end dates are as follows:
Observational type: Cohort study;
You can take part if:
You may not be able to take part if:
All participants - Age < 20 years and > 65 years. - Pregnancy or lactating mothers. - Evidence or history of clinically significant hematological, renal, urinary / prostatic, endocrine, dermatological, pulmonary, psychiatric (except for diagnosis indicated in the inclusion criteria for patients), gastrointestinal, cardiovascular or other heart disease, glaucoma, diabetes, hepatic, neurologic (except for diagnosis indicated in the inclusion criteria for Parkinson’s disease patients), head trauma or allergic disease (except for untreated, asymptomatic, seasonal allergies at time of dosing), if any, and in the opinion of the recruiting physician will impair the safety of the subject and/or the scientific integrity of the study. - Anti-epileptic treatment with known interaction with SV2A protein - Significant sustained abnormality in the opinion of the study staff when vital signs are measured at screening or prior to a PET scan. - History of sensitivity to any allergy that in the opinion of the investigator puts them at risk. - Significant history and continuing substance (except nicotine) and alcohol abuse. - Participation in a clinical trial and having received an investigational product within the time period mentioned prior to the first day in the current study: 90 days, 5 half-lives or twice the duration of the biological effect of the investigational product (whichever is longer). - Donation of blood or blood products in excess of 500ml within any 60 day period prior to the present study. - Previous inclusion in a research and/or medical protocol involving nuclear medicine, PET or radiological investigations with significant radiation burden (a significant radiation burden being defined as ICRP category IIb or above: No more than 10 mSv in addition to natural background radiation, in the previous year including the dose from this study). - History of, or suffers from, claustrophobia or feels that they will be unable to lie still on his back in the MRI or PET scanner for a period of 2 hours. - Presence of a cardiac pacemaker or other body implants that are ferromagnetic as assessed by a standard pre-MRI questionnaire. Healthy volunteers: - Family history of schizophrenia spectrum disorder
Below are the locations for where you can take part in the trial. Please note that not all sites may be open.
The study is sponsored by King's College London and funded by Medical Research Council (MRC) .
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Read full details
for Trial ID: CPMS 32325
You can print or share the study information with your GP/healthcare provider or contact the research team directly.
