Colm Cunningham
Research Lecturer
School of Biochemistry and Immunology
Trinity College Dublin
Ireland
Biography
As a member of the Association Executive I have contributed to discussions leading to a consensus adopted by the European Delirium Association and the American Delirium Society (BMC Medicine 201412:141 DOI: 10.1186/s12916-014-0141-2) that with respect to "The DSM-5 criteria, level of arousal and delirium diagnosis: inclusiveness is safer". I was also part of an international panel of experts gathered to write a definitive report on the "Intensive Care Medicine Research Agenda on Delirium" for publication in INTENSIVE CARE MEDICINE. I am an editorial board member of 2 journals: Brain Behavior and Immunity. Journal of Neuroinflammation.
Research Interest
My principal research interests lie at the point of intersection between neurodegeneration, inflammation and behaviour. I am studying the interaction between systemic and central nervous system inflammation. Much of my research in recent years has focused on a mouse model of prion disease. This model has been extremely useful in characterising the atypical inflammatory response to chronic neurodegeneration. CNS responses to peripheral insults are exaggerated during chronic neurodegenerative disease and microglial priming appears to play a key role in this. My laboratory currently uses bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and synthetic double stranded RNA (polyI:C) to study the impact of antibacterial and anti-viral acute phase responses on CNS function in physiological and pathological situations. This interaction between peripheral and CNS compartments plays a key role in exacerbations of disease such as episodes of delirium in Alzheimer’s disease & relapse in Multiple Sclerosis. The development of a model of inflammation-induced delirium is an ongoing initiative.
Publications
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Cunningham, C., Campion, S., Lunnon, K., Murray, C. L., Woods, J. F., Deacon, R. M., Rawlins, J. N., and Perry, V. H. (2009) Systemic inflammation induces acute behavioral and cognitive changes and accelerates neurodegenerative disease, Biological psychiatry 65, 304-312.
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Proinflammatory cytokines, sickness behavior, and Alzheimer disease. Holmes C, Cunningham C, Zotova E, Culliford D, Perry VH. Neurology. 2011 Jul 19;77(3):212-8.
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Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and cognitive function: are prostaglandins at the heart of cognitive impairment in dementia and delirium? Cunningham C, Skelly DT. J Neuroimmune Pharmacol. 2012 Mar;7(1):60-73.
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Neuroinflammation in delirium: a postmortem case-control study. Munster BC, Aronica E, Zwinderman AH, Eikelenboom P, Cunningham C, Rooij SE. Rejuvenation Res. 2011 Dec;14(6):615-22.
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Systemic inflammation induces acute working memory deficits in the primed brain: relevance for delirium. Murray C, Sanderson DJ, Barkus C, Deacon RM, Rawlins JN, Bannerman DM, Cunningham C. Neurobiol Aging. 2012 Mar;33(3):603-616.e3.
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Prior pathology in the basal forebrain cholinergic system predisposes to inflammation-induced working memory deficits: reconciling inflammatory and cholinergic hypotheses of delirium. Field RH, Gossen A, Cunningham C. J Neurosci. 2012 May 2;32(18):6288-94.
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Delirium is a strong risk factor for dementia in the oldest-old: a population-based cohort study. Davis DH, Muniz Terrera G, Keage H, Rahkonen T, Oinas M, Matthews FE, Cunningham C, Polvikoski T, Sulkava R, Maclullich AM, Brayne C.Brain. 2012 Sep;135(Pt 9):2809-16.
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Microglia and neurodegeneration: The role of systemic inflammation. Cunningham C. Glia. 2012 Jun 6
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Cunningham C, Maclullich AM. At the extreme end of the psychoneuroimmunological spectrum: Delirium as a maladaptive sickness behaviour response. Brain Behav Immun. 2012 Aug 3.
