Abstract

THE IMPACT OF STRESS ON IMMUNITY, MECHANISM AND PATHWAYS INVOLVED

Muhammad Sohail, Xinghua Gao, Yan Cheng, Qiuhua Cao, Stephanie Stella Mica
Avouloumeyo, Yang Yong*

Abstract

This is established fact that stress is harmful for human body. There is a need to identify the adaptive and curative measure to manage physiological stress reaction at the time of fight and flight. Usually treatment of chronic stress has the potential to suppress and deregulates the adaptive and innate immune responses while the short term stress has shielding effects to organize an individual to deal with challenges. Chronic and acute stress can encourage the pronounced modifications in inborn and adaptive immune response and these modifications are largely mediated through mediators of neuroendocrine from sympathetic–adrenal axis and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. In depression, the immune system response is impaired with chronic stress by continuous stimulation of the HPA. Activation of SAM and HPA in response to chronic stress causes excessive production of catecholamine and glucocorticoid hormones. The key mechanistic evidence about the physiological changes and stressor is provided by psychoneuroimmunology (PNI). Immune cells (binds with the cartisol) having highly expressed glucocorticoid receptors interfere with the function of NF-κB which is responsible for the regulation of cytokine-producing immune cell’s activity. Epinephrine and norepinephrine bind and stimulate the response of cAMP, resulting in transcription of the genes encoding various cytokines. The variations in gene expression that deregulate immune function are mediated by glucocorticoid hormones and catecholamine. This review study summarizes the positive and negative impact of short term as well as chronic stress on the immune system.

Keywords: Stress, Immunity, Hypothalamic-pituataryaxis, Sympathetic nervous system, cytokines.