The syntax of immune-neuroendocrine communication

I. Introduction II. Familial Glucocorticoid Deficiency A. Clinical presentation B. Investigation C. Treatment D. Pathogenesis III. Triple A Syndrome A. Clinical features B. Treatment C. Pathogenesis D. Mapping of triple A syndrome gene E. Candidate genes IV. Acquired ACTH Resistance V. Conclusions

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Adrenocorticotropin Insensitivity Syndromes

The mammalian response to stress involves the release of soluble products from the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Cells of the immune system respond to many of the hormones, neurotransmitters, and neuropeptides through specific receptors. The function of the immune system is critical in the mammalian response to infectious disease. A growing body of evidence identifies stress as a cofactor in infectious disease susceptibility and outcomes. It has been suggested that effects of stress on the immune system may mediate the relationship between stress and infectious disease. This article reviews recent psychoneuroimmunology literature exploring the effects of stress on the pathogenesis of, and immune response to, infectious disease in mammals.

Psychoneuroimmunology: stress effects on pathogenesis and immunity during infection.

One of the truly remarkable discoveries in modern biology is the finding that the nervous system and immune system use a common chemical language for intra- and inter-system communication. This review will discuss some of the pivotal results that deciphered this chemical language. Specifically the nervous and immune systems produce a common set of peptide and nonpeptide neurotransmitters and cytokines that act on a common repertoire of receptors in the two systems. The paper will also review more recent studies that have delineated hardwired and humoral pathways for such bidirectional communication. This is discussed in the context of the idea that the sharing of ligands and receptors allows the immune system to serve as the sixth sense that notifies the nervous system of the presence of entities, such as viruses and bacteria, that are imperceptible to the classic senses. Lastly, this review will suggest ways to apply the newfound knowledge of the sixth sense to understand a placebo effect and to treat human disease.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2004.01441.x

The immune system as the sixth sense

The polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) plays an essential role in the innate defense of the mammalian host against bacterial invaders. Responding chemotactically, the PMN delivers a complex antibiotic arsenal to sites of infection. Among these cytotoxic systems is an array of antimicrobial proteins and peptides that the PMN directs at microorganisms both before (i.e. extracellularly) and after sequestration into a phagocytic vacuole. In addition to their microbicidal capacity, several of these proteins bind to and neutralize the endotoxic activity of Gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS). In this review the principle features of these antibiotic proteins are briefly summarized with emphasis on their possible actions in biological settings. In many instances, additional functions independent of cytotoxicity have been described raising the possibility that some of these proteins subserve multiple roles in inflammation.

Antibiotic proteins of polymorphonuclear leukocytes

THE inaccessibility of many tissues makes routine investigation for receptor defects impossible. ACTH insensitivity syndrome, first described by Shepard et al.1 in 1959 and now reported in more tha...

P Brosnan

Papers

An ACTH receptor on human mononuclear leukocytes. Relation to adrenal ACTH-receptor activity.