ReviewMolecular psychiatry2018
Reconceptualization of translocator protein as a biomarker of neuroinflammation in psychiatry.
Review in Molecular psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 89 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
89 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of the Glial Marker TSPO in Psychosis Revisited: Reconciling Inconclusive Findings of Patient-Control Differences.Biological psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Neuroimmune mechanisms in PTSD: inflammatory heterogeneity, circuit dysfunction, and biomarker-based subtypes.Molecular biology reports · 2026Review
- α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, activated glia, and cognitive impairment in schizophrenia: a dual-tracer PET study.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Development and evaluation of [European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2025Article
- Perivascular space dysfunction in cerebral small vessel disease is related to neuroinflammation.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2025Article
- Imaging the translocator protein 18 kDa within cognitive control and declarative memory circuits in virally suppressed people with HIV.AIDS (London, England) · 2025Article
- PET imaging of neuroinflammation: any credible alternatives to TSPO yet?Molecular psychiatry · 2025Review
- 18 kDa Translocator protein (TSPO) is upregulated in rat brain after peripheral nerve injury and downregulated by diroximel fumarate.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Article
- In vivo translocator protein in females with autism spectrum disorder: a pilot study.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Impact of repeated blast exposure on active-duty United States Special Operations Forces.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Neurofilament light-chain (NfL) and 18 kDa translocator protein in early psychosis and its putative high-risk.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2024Article
- Nicotinic regulation of microglia: potential contributions to addiction.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2024Review
- Does seasonal variation affect the neuroimmune system? A retrospective [Neuroscience letters · 2024Article
- Microglia-neuron interactions in schizophrenia.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2024Review
- Neuroinflammation at the Gray-White Matter Interface in Active-Duty U.S. Special Operations Forces.Neurotrauma reports · 2024Article
- HBO treatment enhances motor function and modulates pain development after sciatic nerve injury via protection the mitochondrial function.Journal of translational medicine · 2023Article
- Anti-inflammatory interleukin 1 receptor antagonist concentration in plasma correlates with blood-brain barrier integrity in the primary lesion area in traumatic brain injury patients.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2023Article
- Molecular Imaging of Pulmonary Inflammation in Users of Electronic and Combustible Cigarettes: A Pilot Study.Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine · 2023Article
- Positron Emission Tomography of Neuroimmune Responses in Humans: Insights and Intricacies.Seminars in nuclear medicine · 2023Review
29 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A great deal of interest in psychiatric research is currently centered upon the pathogenic role of inflammatory processes. Positron emission tomography (PET) using radiolabeled ligands selective for the 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO) has become the most widely used technique to assess putative neuroimmune abnormalities in vivo. Originally used to detect discrete neurotoxic damages, TSPO has generally turned into a biomarker of 'neuroinflammation' or 'microglial activation'. Psychiatric research has mostly accepted these denotations of TSPO, even if they may be inadequate and misleading under many pathological conditions. A reliable and neurobiologically meaningful diagnosis of 'neuroinflammation' or 'microglial activation' is unlikely to be achieved by the sole use of TSPO PET imaging. It is also very likely that the pathological meanings of altered TSPO binding or expression are disease-specific, and therefore, not easily generalizable across different neuropathologies or inflammatory conditions. This difficulty is intricately linked to the varying (and still ill-defined) physiological functions and cellular expression patterns of TSPO in health and disease. While altered TSPO binding or expression may indeed mirror ongoing neuroinflammatory processes in some cases, it may reflect other pathophysiological processes such as abnormalities in cell metabolism, energy production and oxidative stress in others. Hence, the increasing popularity of TSPO PET imaging has paradoxically introduced substantial uncertainty regarding the nature and meaning of neuroinflammatory processes and microglial activation in psychiatry, and likely in other neuropathological conditions as well. The ambiguity of conceiving TSPO simply as a biomarker of 'neuroinflammation' or 'microglial activation' calls for alternative interpretations and complimentary approaches. Without the latter, the ongoing scientific efforts and excitement surrounding the role of the neuroimmune system in psychiatry may not turn into therapeutic hope for affected individuals.
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