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Stress-induced immune dysfunction: implications for health

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 5, pages 243–251 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Folk wisdom has long suggested that stressful events take a toll on health. The field of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is now providing key mechanistic evidence about the ways in which stressors — and the negative emotions that they generate — can be translated into physiological changes. PNI researchers have used animal and human models to learn how the immune system communicates bidirectionally with the central nervous and endocrine systems and how these interactions impact on health.

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Figure 1: Stress-associated modulation of the hormone response by the central nervous system.
Figure 2: Influence of stress on pro-inflammatory cytokine responses in wound healing.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Sheridan, D. Padgett, R. Bonneau, R. Nelson, N. Quan and V. Sanders for helpful suggestions. Work on this paper was supported, in part, by grants from the General Clinical Research Center (Columbus, United States) and the Comprehensive Cancer Center, (Columbus, United States).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics, the College of Medicine and Public Health, the Institute for Behavioral Medical Research and the Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, 43210, Ohio, USA

    Ronald Glaser

  2. the Department of Psychiatry, the College of Medicine and Public Health, the Institute for Behavioral Medical Research and the Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, 43210, Ohio, USA

    Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser

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Correspondence to Ronald Glaser.

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DATABASES

Entrez Gene

ACTH

CCL2

CRH

CRP

CXCL8

glucocorticoid receptor

growth hormone

IFN-γ

IL-1α

IL-1β

IL-2

IL-6

PDGFs

prolactin

TGF-β

TNF

VEGF

FURTHER INFORMATION

PNI Research Program

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Glaser, R., Kiecolt-Glaser, J. Stress-induced immune dysfunction: implications for health. Nat Rev Immunol 5, 243–251 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri1571

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