HOW STRESS
INFLUENCES DISEASE: STUDY REVEALS INFLAMMATION AS THE CULPRIT
Date: April 2, 2012
Source: Carnegie Mellon University
Summary: Stress wreaks havoc on the mind and body. Until
now, it has not been clear exactly how stress influences disease and health.
Now researchers have found that chronic psychological stress is associated with
the body losing its ability to regulate the inflammatory response. The research
shows for the first time that the effects of psychological stress on the body's
ability to regulate inflammation can promote the development and progression of
disease.
FULL STORY
Stress wreaks havoc on the mind and body. For example,
psychological stress is associated with greater risk for depression, heart
disease and infectious diseases. But, until now, it has not been clear exactly
how stress influences disease and health.
A research team led by Carnegie Mellon University's Sheldon
Cohen has found that chronic psychological stress is associated with the body
losing its ability to regulate the inflammatory response. Published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research shows for the
first time that the effects of psychological stress on the body's ability to
regulate inflammation can promote the development and progression of disease.
"Inflammation is partly regulated by the hormone
cortisol and when cortisol is not allowed to serve this function, inflammation
can get out of control," said Cohen, the Robert E. Doherty Professor of
Psychology within CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Cohen argued that prolonged stress alters the effectiveness
of cortisol to regulate the inflammatory response because it decreases tissue
sensitivity to the hormone. Specifically, immune cells become insensitive to
cortisol's regulatory effect. In turn, runaway inflammation is thought to
promote the development and progression of many diseases.
Cohen, whose groundbreaking early work showed that people
suffering from psychological stress are more susceptible to developing common
colds, used the common cold as the model for testing his theory. With the
common cold, symptoms are not caused by the virus -- they are instead a
"side effect" of the inflammatory response that is triggered as part
of the body's effort to fight infection. The greater the body's inflammatory
response to the virus, the greater is the likelihood of experiencing the
symptoms of a cold.
In Cohen's first study, after completing an intensive stress
interview, 276 healthy adults were exposed to a virus that causes the common
cold and monitored in quarantine for five days for signs of infection and
illness. Here, Cohen found that experiencing a prolonged stressful event was
associated with the inability of immune cells to respond to hormonal signals
that normally regulate inflammation. In turn, those with the inability to
regulate the inflammatory response were more likely to develop colds when
exposed to the virus.
In the second study, 79 healthy participants were assessed
for their ability to regulate the inflammatory response and then exposed to a
cold virus and monitored for the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, the
chemical messengers that trigger inflammation. He found that those who were
less able to regulate the inflammatory response as assessed before being
exposed to the virus produced more of these inflammation-inducing chemical
messengers when they were infected.
"The immune system's ability to regulate inflammation
predicts who will develop a cold, but more importantly it provides an
explanation of how stress can promote disease," Cohen said. "When
under stress, cells of the immune system are unable to respond to hormonal
control, and consequently, produce levels of inflammation that promote disease.
Because inflammation plays a role in many diseases such as cardiovascular,
asthma and autoimmune disorders, this model suggests why stress impacts them as
well."
He added, "Knowing this is important for identifying
which diseases may be influenced by stress and for preventing disease in
chronically stressed people."
In addition to Cohen, the research team included CMU's
Denise Janicki-Deverts, research psychologist; Children's Hospital of
Pittsburgh's William J. Doyle; University of British Columbia's Gregory E.
Miller; University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's Bruce S. Rabin and Ellen
Frank; and the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center's Ronald B.
Turner.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute and the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Socioeconomic Status
and Health funded this research.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Carnegie Mellon
University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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