Since the mid-1980s, the research work of Prof. Dr K. Bechter and his team has been dedicated to basic clinical research, in particular on the etiology of severe psychiatric illnesses, with the hypothesis that infections or autoimmune reactions triggered by infections or immunopathological processes may be the cause of the illnesses. In varying collaborations with researchers from the fields of virology, immunology, biochemistry and neurology, new insights are being gained with the help of neuroimaging and, in particular, laboratory analyses of blood and cerebrospinal fluid (cerebrospinal fluid).
Prof Bechter has also worked on theoretical aspects of CSF flow and the resulting pathogenetic processes, based on clinical observations in the context of experimental therapies, e.g. with CSF filtration. The hypotheses, on the one hand the "Mild Encephalitis Hypothesis" and on the other hand the "Peripheral CSF Outflow Hypothesis", fit in very well with new findings from other research groups.
Postal address:
Psychoimmunology working group
Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II
of the University of Ulm at Günzburg District Hospital
Lindenallee 2
89312 Günzburg
Ongoing project
- MOODSTRATIFICATION - Immune Signatures for Therapy Stratification in Major Mood Disorders
- Online medium
Project management: Prof Hemmo Drexhage, Rotterdam
Duration: January 2018 - June 2023
Funded by EU Grant agreement ID: 754740, see also Research - Mood Stratification website.
Since January 2018, a European EU project has been running in cooperation with various universities (Rotterdam, Paris, Milan, Münster, Munich, Ulm-Günzburg, Groningen, Leuven, Aarhus) with the aim of treating severe depression with newer immunotherapies after appropriate differential diagnosis. These can have an immunostimulant and immunosuppressive effect. The therapy is used after appropriate preliminary findings. For further information on possible inclusion in the study, please contact Prof Bechter. Further information can also be found in the following study flyer.
Completed projects
Study director: Prof. Dr med. K. Bechter
Study staff: K. Bechter, H.- G. Maxeiner
Duration: 04/2005 - 03/2007
Funded by: Margarete Ammon Foundation, Munich
Funding amount: Euro 80,000 (corresponding to 1 doctor's position BAT IIa)
Studies currently being carried out are concerned with the aetiopathogenesis of schizophrenic and affective psychoses, in particular improved treatment options for therapy-resistant cases of these diagnoses and a new understanding of unexplained pain syndromes in depression, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia as well as personality disorders in connection with the above-mentioned infectious pathogens. A project is currently being supported by the Margarete Ammon Foundation for the application of new therapy methods in the aforementioned interdisciplinary approach.
The Günzburg and Augsburg clinics are considering a project to develop special therapies for severely ill patients with affective and schizophrenic spectrum psychoses who are resistant to therapy, with a division of labour and transfer of corresponding patients; corresponding applications are in preparation.
Project partners: Sibylle Herzog and colleagues, Institute of Virology, University of Giessen, Marion Schneider, Department of Anaesthesiology, University Hospital Ulm, Hayrettin Tumani and colleagues, Department of Neurology, RKU Ulm
MitarbeiterInnen / Staff Psychiatrie II, Universität Ulm: Karl Bechter (project management), Horst-Günter Maxeiner
Laufzeit / Duration: bis 2012
Finanzierung / Finance: Margarete Ammon Stiftung, München
Fördersumme / Funding: Euro 80.000,-
Background: Causation of mental illness through BDV
Objective: Improved diagnosis of mental illnesses, virus and pathogen detection
Method: Laboratory analyses of cerebrospinal fluid and blood
Summary: The Psychoimmunology Working group aims at improving cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diagnostics in severe psychiatric disorders. One focus was to diagnose mild encephalitis (ME) induced by various infectious agents including bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. A longstanding focus project is the search for Borna Disease Virus and its role for human disease presumably psychiatric and neurological syndromes. Recent CSF investigations demonstrated low grade CSF pathologies compatible with the ME hypothesis in about 40% of therapy-resistant affective and schizophrenic disorders. In addition, in part of the cases CSF lymphocyte activation was found. CSF was beyond hypothesised to interact in peripheral tissues reached via the PCOP (= peripheral CSF outflow pathway), possibly explaining a number of difficult to explain findings in classical inflammatory and low level inflammatory CSF disorders in general. A first step in this direction was the demonstration of CSF cell trafficking along peripheral nerves for the first time in an oncological case.