# Modeling Anti-NMDAR1 Autoantibodies in Psychiatric Disorders

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2020 · $433,875

## Abstract

Project Summary
High titers of autoantibodies against synaptic protein NMDAR1 have been demonstrated to cause anti-
NMDAR1 encephalitis that exhibits psychosis, fear, anxiety, and other psychiatric symptoms. However, long-
term effects of lower titers of anti-NMDAR1 autoantibodies on mental health are unknown, despite that ~5-10%
of human population carries low titers of anti-NMDAR1 autoantibodies in their blood. We successfully
generated modeling mice carrying low titers of anti-NMDAR1 autoantibodies. Mice carrying the anti-NMDAR1
autoantibodies for many months are healthy, and displayed no behavioral abnormalities except severe deficits
in cued fear extinction learning (p=7.80x10-14, effect size: 2.57, power: 0.99) and recall of fear extinction
(p=2.29x10-10, effect size: 1.65, power: 0.83), indicating that NMDAR functions may be impaired by the
autoantibodies in prefrontal cortex. Impaired fear extinction and recall are clinical endophenotypes for many
psychiatric disorders including PTSD, anxiety, schizophrenia, and autism. Peripheral circulating antibodies are
largely blocked from entering brain by blood brain barriers (BBB) or blood CSF barriers (BCSFB). However,
~0.1% of blood circulating antibodies can cross these barriers into brain in healthy rodents and humans
regardless of antibody specificities. It is conceivable that chronic low titers of circulating anti-NMDAR1
autoantibodies in our preliminary studies could disrupt NMDAR neurotransmission in mouse prefrontal cortex
after crossing BBB and BCSFB. Frontal cortex is one of the brain regions innervated with the highest density
of blood capillaries, indicating a potential of more influx of circulating anti-NMDAR1 autoantibodies in this
region. Since prefrontal cortex plays a central role in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders, we
hypothesize that prefrontal cortex is particularly vulnerable to chronic presence of low titers of anti-NMDAR1
autoantibodies, and neuroinflammation can exacerbate existing mild NMDAR1 autoimmunity to develop anti-
NMDAR1 encephalitis-like phenotypes. In Aim1, we propose to generate mice carrying NMDAR1-Luc2 fusion
gene using CRISPR to conduct longitudinal in vivo bioluminescence live imaging (BLI) of NMDAR1 proteins in
mouse brain. We expect that NMDAR1-Luc2 proteins will be preferentially reduced in prefrontal cortex by
chronic influx of anti-NMDAR1 autoantibodies in mice carrying low titers of anti-NMDAR1 autoantibodies. In
Aim2, we will investigate whether systemic inflammation and neuroinflammation may exacerbate existing mild
NMDAR1 autoimmunity to develop anti-NMDAR1 encephalitis-like phenotypes. Success of Aim1 will establish
a potential mechanistic link between chronic low titers of anti-NMDAR1 autoantibodies that are common in
human population and prefrontal cortex in the pathogenesis of a variety of psychiatric disorders. Success of
Aim2 will provide evidence supporting that anti-NMDAR1 autoimmunity may be a spectrum of disorders from
mild psyc...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10039278
- **Project number:** 1R21MH123705-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** XIANJIN ZHOU
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $433,875
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10039278

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10039278, Modeling Anti-NMDAR1 Autoantibodies in Psychiatric Disorders (1R21MH123705-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10039278. Licensed CC0.

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