Inflammation and its control.......
Anti-inflammatory medications are not yet considered standard treatment for patients with schizophrenia, Miller said. However, his own findings and others' about the role of inflammation at least in some patients, means Miller often measures levels of C-reactive protein as an inflammatory marker in those not responding well to traditional drug therapy. He often also prescribes anti-inflammatory agents for patients with increased C-reactive protein levels. C-reactive protein levels are a cheaper inflammatory marker to measure than the research protocol he's using to measure IL-6 levels. In fact, cardiologists already use C-reactive protein levels as a measure of cardiovascular risk in their patients. That cardiovascular benefit could be good for patients with schizophrenia as well since some antipsychotics used to treat their condition come with side effects that include weight gain and additional cardiovascular risk.
Miller's also hopeful that by directly targeting IL-6, siltuximab has no "off-target" effects, in contrast to more common anti-inflammatory agents such as aspirin and the arthritis drug Celebrex. If the drug works as well as he suspects it will, it also will provide more evidence that inflammation is part of what's driving cognitive dysfunction in these patients, Miller said.