Bone Marrow Transplants Cure Compulsive Behavior In Mice

A Nobel Prize-winning University of Utah geneticist discovered that bone marrow transplants cure mutant mice who pull out their hair compulsively. The study provides the first cause-and-effect link between immune system cells and mental illness, and points toward eventual new psychiatric treatments. "We're showing there is a direct relationship between a psychiatric disorder and the immune system, specifically cells named microglia that are derived from bone marrow" and are found in the brain, says Mario Capecchi, a distinguished professor of human genetics at the University of Utah School of Medicine. "There's been an inference. But nobody has previously made a direct connection between the two."

The findings - published in the Friday, May 28 issue of the journal Cell - should inspire researchers "to think about potential new immune-based therapies for psychiatric disorders," says Capecchi, a 2007 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine.

University of Utah via io9