Abstract
Psychoneuroimmunology is a relatively new field of study that investigates interactions between behaviour and the immune system, mediated by the endocrine and nervous systems. The immune and central nervous system (CNS) maintain extensive communication. On the one hand, the brain modulates the immune system by hardwiring sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves (autonomic nervous system) to lymphoid organs. On the other hand, neuroendocrine hormones such as corticotrophin-releasing hormone or substance P regulate cytokine balance. Vice versa, the immune system modulates brain activity including sleep and body temperature. Based on a close functional and anatomical link, the immune and nervous systems act in a highly reciprocal manner. From fever to stress, the influence of one system on the other has evolved in an intricate manner to help sense danger and to mount an appropriate adaptive response. Over recent decades, reasonable evidence has emerged that these brain-to-immune interactions are highly modulated by psychological factors which influence immunity and immune system-mediated disease.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ader R, Cohen N (1982) Behaviourally conditioned immunosuppression and murine systemic lupus erythematosus. Science (Washington, DC) 215:1534–1536
Besedovsky HO, del Rey AE, Sorkin E, Da Prada M, Burri R, Honegger C (1983) The immune response evokes changes in brain noradrenergic neurons. Science (Washington, DC) 221:564–566
Besedovsky HO, del Rey A, Sorkin E, Da Prada M, Keller HH (1979) Immunoregulation mediated by the sympathetic nervous system. Cell Immunol 48:346–355
Besedovsky HO, del Rey A, Sorkin E, Dinarello CA (1986) Immunoregulatory feedback between interleukin-1 and glucocorticoid hormones. Science (Washington, DC) 233:652–654
Besedovsky HO, Sorkin E, Keller M, Muller J (1975) Changes in blood hormone levels during the immune response. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 150:466–470
Brain SD, Williams TJ (1988) Substance P regulates the vasodilator activity of calcitonin gene-related peptide. Nature 335:73–75
Buske-Kirschbaum A, Kern S, Ebrecht M, Hellhammer DH (2007) Altered distribution of leukocyte subsets and cytokine production in response to acute psychosocial stress in patients with psoriasis vulgaris. Brain Behav Immun 21:92–99
Chrousos GP (1995) The hypothalamic- pituitary-adrenal axis and immune- mediated inflammation. N Engl J Med 332:1351–1362
Chrousos GP, Gold PW (1992) The concepts of stress and stress system disorders.Overview of physical and behavioral homeostasis [published erratum appeared in JAMA (1992) 268:200]. JAMA 267:1244–1252
Dantzer R (2004) Cytokine-induced sickness behaviour: a neuroimmune response to activation of innate immunity. Eur J Pharmacol 500:399–411
Davidson RJ, Kabat-Zinn J, Schumacher J et al. (2003) Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosom Med 65:564–570
Dunn AJ,Wang J, Ando T (1999) Effects of cytokines on cerebral neurotransmission. Comparison with the effects of stress. Adv Exp Med Biol 461:117–127
Elenkov IJ, Wilder RL, Chrousos GP, Vizi ES (2000) The sympathetic nerve – an integrative interface between two supersystems: the brain and the immune system. Pharmacol Rev 52:595–638
Gaab J, Blattler N, Menzi T, Pabst B, Stoyer S, Ehlert U (2003) Randomized controlled evaluation of the effects of cognitive-behavioural stress management on cortisol responses to acute stress in healthy subjects. Psychoneuroendocrinology 28:767–779
Hadden JW, Hadden EM, Middleton E Jr (1970) Lymphocyte blast transformation. Demonstration of adrenergic receptors in human peripheral lymphocytes. Cell Immunol 1:583–595
Keller-Wood ME, Dallman MF (1984) Corticosteroid inhibition of ACTH secretion. Endocr Rev 5:1–24
Maier SF, Watkins LR (1998) Cytokines for psychologists: Implications of bidirectional immune-to-brain communication for understanding behavior, mood and cognition. Psychol Rev 105:83–107
McEwen BS, Biron CA, Brunson KW, Bulloch K et al. (1997) The role of adrenocorticoids as modulators of immune function in health and disease: neural, endocrine and immune interactions. Brain Res Brain Res Rev:79–133
Nater UM, Gaab J, RiefW, Ehlert U (2006) Recent trends in behavioral medicine. Curr Opin Psychiatry 19:180–183
Sapolsky RM, Romero LM, Munck AU (2000) How do glucocorticoids influence stress responses? Integrating permissive, suppressive, stimulatory, and preparative actions. Endocr Rev 21:55–89
Steinhoff M et al. (200) Agonists of proteinase-activated receptor 2 induce inflammation by a neurogenic mechanism. Nat Med 6:151–158
Steinman L (2004) Elaborate interactions between the immune and nervous systems. Nat Immunol 5:575–581
Wilder RL (1995) Neuroendocrineimmune system interactions and autoimmunity. Annu Rev Immunol 13:307–338
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00415-008-0901-z.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ziemssen, T., Kern, S. Psychoneuroimmunology – Cross-talk between the immune and nervous systems. J Neurol 254 (Suppl 2), II8–II11 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-007-2003-8
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-007-2003-8