Inflammation and Immunity in Depression (Paperback)

Inflammation and Immunity in Depression: Basic Science and Clinical Applications is the first book to move beyond the established theory of cytokine-induced depression and explore the broader role the immune system plays in this devastating mood disorder. The book fully explores the most recent lines of research into this rapidly advancing field, including alterations of T-cells, the neurobiological implications of neuroinflammation and immune alterations for brain development and function, and the genetic components of neuroinflammation in depression, including the relationships between stress and inflammation that are revealing gene-environment interactions in the disorder.

Combining contributions from researchers worldwide, this book provides the most comprehensive discussion available today on the involvement of the innate immune and adaptive immune systems in depressive disorder. Chapters span neuroscience, psychology, clinical applications and future directions, making this book an invaluable resource for advanced students, researchers and practitioners who need to understand the complex and varied role of inflammation and immune responses in depression.

• Synthesizes current knowledge of inflammation and immunity in depression, ranging from basic neuroscience research, to clinical applications in psychiatry
• Expands on the long-established theory of cytokine-induced depression to discuss broader involvement of the immune system
• Explores translational potential of targeting immune dysfunction for clinical interventions

Prof. Bernhard Baune (PhD, MD, MPH, FRANZCP) is the Director of the University Hospital Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Münster, Germany. He also leads the newly established Laboratory Division of Molecular Neurobiology of Mental Health at the University. Prof. Baune has been the Cato Chair and Head of Department of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, Australia prior to being awarded the Director position at the University of Münster. Prof. Baune is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrist (FRANZCP), he is a Professorial Fellow of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and also at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Australia.

Prof. Baune is known for his extensive research program into depression and cognitive dysfunction, personalised psychiatry, molecular psychiatry, prediction and biomarker research and treatment response research as well as for key research achievements in the field of immune-neurobiology of psychiatric disorders.

Prof. Baune’s translational work at the University of Münster is designed to make real-world differences to the lives of people with mental illness by integrating neurobiological and clinical information, by personalising treatments and by targeting the mechanisms of functional recovery.

Other related work include the leadership of an international consortium on the genomics of severe depression and response to ECT in affective disorders (GenECT-ic), leading an international study on the genomics of cognitive function in depression and directing the ECNP network on trans- diagnostic pharmacogenomics and transcriptomics in psychiatric disorders.

His research is nationally and internationally recognised and he has published more than 500 peer-reviewed articles, reviews and book chapters, and he edited several text books in Psychiatry, and most recently the books “Personalised Psychiatry” (Elsevier), “Inflammation and Immunity of Depression” (Elsevier) and “Cognitive Dimensions of Major Depressive Disorder” (Oxford University Press).