TY - JOUR
T1 - Synergistic effects of psychological and immune stressors on inflammatory cytokine and sickness responses in humans
AU - Brydon, Lena
AU - Walker, Cicely
AU - Wawrzyniak, Andrew
AU - Whitehead, Daisy
AU - Okamura, Hisayoshi
AU - Yajima, Jumpei
AU - Tsuda, Akira
AU - Steptoe, Andrew
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the British Heart Foundation. We are grateful to Dr. Linda Perkins-Porras, Dr. Mimi Bhattacharyya, Bev Milne and Bev Murray for their assistance with vaccination.
PY - 2009/2
Y1 - 2009/2
N2 - Activation of the innate immune system is commonly accompanied by a set of behavioural, psychological and physiological changes known as 'sickness behaviour'. In animals, infection-related sickness symptoms are significantly increased by exposure to psychosocial stress, suggesting that psychological and immune stressors may operate through similar pathways to induce sickness. We used a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled design to examine the effect of acute psychological stress on immune and subjective mood responses to typhoid vaccination in 59 men. Volunteers were assigned to one of four experimental conditions in which they were either injected with typhoid vaccine or saline placebo, and then either rested or completed two challenging behavioural tasks. Typhoid vaccine induced a significant rise in participants' serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and this response was significantly larger in the stress versus rest conditions. Negative mood increased immediately post-tasks, an effect also more pronounced in the vaccine/stress condition. In the vaccine/stress group, participants with larger IL-6 responses had heightened systolic blood pressure responses to tasks and elevated post-stress salivary levels of the noradrenaline metabolite 3-methoxy-phenyl glycol (MHPG) and cortisol. Our findings suggest that, as seen in animals, psychological and immune stressors may act synergistically to promote inflammation and sickness behaviour in humans.
AB - Activation of the innate immune system is commonly accompanied by a set of behavioural, psychological and physiological changes known as 'sickness behaviour'. In animals, infection-related sickness symptoms are significantly increased by exposure to psychosocial stress, suggesting that psychological and immune stressors may operate through similar pathways to induce sickness. We used a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled design to examine the effect of acute psychological stress on immune and subjective mood responses to typhoid vaccination in 59 men. Volunteers were assigned to one of four experimental conditions in which they were either injected with typhoid vaccine or saline placebo, and then either rested or completed two challenging behavioural tasks. Typhoid vaccine induced a significant rise in participants' serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and this response was significantly larger in the stress versus rest conditions. Negative mood increased immediately post-tasks, an effect also more pronounced in the vaccine/stress condition. In the vaccine/stress group, participants with larger IL-6 responses had heightened systolic blood pressure responses to tasks and elevated post-stress salivary levels of the noradrenaline metabolite 3-methoxy-phenyl glycol (MHPG) and cortisol. Our findings suggest that, as seen in animals, psychological and immune stressors may act synergistically to promote inflammation and sickness behaviour in humans.
KW - Cytokines
KW - IL-6
KW - Psychological stress
KW - Sickness response
KW - Synergistic
KW - Vaccination
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U2 - 10.1016/j.bbi.2008.09.007
DO - 10.1016/j.bbi.2008.09.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 18835437
AN - SCOPUS:58549087916
VL - 23
SP - 217
EP - 224
JO - Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
JF - Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
SN - 0889-1591
IS - 2
ER -