Role of Emotions in Immune System

https://psychcentral.com/news/2014/05/22/study-probes-how-emotions-
affect-immune-system/70192.html

Study Probes How Emotions

Affect Immune System
By Jane Collingwood
~ 3 min read

Researchers have long known that emotions can affect health. But it hasnt been
clear exactly how feeling stressed or lonely could lead to aches and pains.

The problem has been explaining how the process works at the level of the
nervous and immune systems.

For many years, experts in psychoneuroimmunology have searched for the

explanation. Now, Steve Cole, Ph.D., from the Cousins Center for
Psychoneuroimmunology at the University of California, Los Angeles, has
uncovered at least part of the mystery.

In his studies, Cole uses genome-wide transcriptional analysis to observe broad

patterns of gene expression in cells. This has led to a series of published studies
on the link between negative mental states (such as stress or loneliness) and
the behavior of the immune system, driven by altering patterns of gene
expression.

Study on Loneliness

In one study, his team focused on loneliness. They analyzed genome-wide

activity in 14 people who chronically experienced high or low levels of
subjective social isolation.

This identified 209 genes that were expressed differently in the lonely or non-
lonely individuals, including genes that oversee immune activation and blood
cell function. Certain genes that dampen bodily inflammation were less effective
in lonely people, while pro-inflammatory genes were overexpressed.

This data provides the first indication that human genome-wide transcriptional
activity is altered in association with a social epidemiological risk factor, writes
the research team in the journal Genome Biology. This provides a functional
genomic explanation for elevated risk of inflammatory disease in individuals
who experience chronically high levels of subjective social isolation.

They add, One of the most robust social risk factors involves the number and
quality of an individuals close personal relationships. People who are socially
isolated have increased risk of death from all causes, and several specific
infectious, cancerous, and cardiovascular diseases.

The biological basis of these health risks is poorly understood, the team says,
partly because it is unknown whether the lack of social support or the biological
effects of loneliness are to blame. Their study confirms that the biological effect
clearly plays a major role.

The data provides the first evidence that social-environmental risk factors are
linked to global alterations in human gene transcription, they write, and
establishes a molecular context for understanding the increased risk of
inflammatory disease observed in human beings who experience a chronic
sense of subjective social isolation (loneliness).

And since then, the researchers have replicated the results in a larger group of
93 people.

Study on Stress

Various studies over the last three decades have also showed that the brain is
linked to the immune system. For example, parts of the nervous system have
connections to organs including the thymus and bone marrow, which help fight
of disease, and there are specific receptors for neurotransmitters on the surface
of immune cells.

In 2003, Dr. Richard Davidson and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-

Madison investigated the impact of emotions on flu risk. They asked 52
participants to recall the best and the worst times of their lives while having a

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brain scan. Next, the volunteers were given a flu vaccine and had their flu-
antibody levels measured six months later.

Those who experienced particularly intense negative emotions (according to

their brain activity) had fewer antibodies. In fact, the subjects who felt the worst
made 50 percent fewer antibodies than those who were less upset by their
painful memories.

Said Davidson, Its absolutely likely that positive emotions can improve your
immune function. People with negative emotional styles would be more likely to
develop the flu.

The risk of catching a cold has also been linked to emotions. Psychologist Dr.
Sheldon Cohen and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania
studied over 300 healthy volunteers. Each was interviewed over two weeks to
gauge his or her emotional state, with scores for positive categories (happy,
pleased, or relaxed) and negative categories (anxious, hostile, and depressed).

Then the rhinovirus, which causes colds, was squirted into each participants
nose, and they were interviewed daily for five days about any symptoms. This
showed that those scoring in the bottom third for positive emotions were three
times more likely to catch a cold that those in the top third.

Said Cohen, People who express more positive emotions are less susceptible to
upper respiratory tract infections than people with a negative emotional style.

Cole and his team are now moving on to focus on the protective effects of
happiness and well-being, a science still in its infancy, but potentially
groundbreaking.

I have spent most of my career and personal life trying to avoid or overcome
bad things, Cole said. I spend a lot more time now thinking about what I really
want to do with my life, and where Id like to go with whatever years remain.

thephysiologicalconsequencesassociatedwithemotionalexperiencesprovideone
mechanismbywhichemotionalstatesmayinfluencephysicalhealth.Althoughhealth
psychologistshaveoftenproposedthatnegativeemotionalexperiencescauseonetobemore

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vulnerabletoillness(e.g.,Friedman&BoothKewley,1987),ithasbeenonlyinthepast15
yearsorsothatinvestigatorshavebeenabletotestthesepredictionsdirectly.Ingeneral,
negativeemotionalstatesarethoughttobeassociatedwithunhealthypatternsofphysiological
functioning,whereaspositiveemotionalstatesarethoughttobeassociatedwithhealthier
patternsofrespondinginbothcardiovascularactivityandtheimmunesystem,althoughthedata
concerningnegativestatesaremoreplentiful(e.g.,BoothKewley&Friedman,1987;Herbert&
Cohen,1993).Wewillfocusprimarilyontheimmunesystemhere,asthecardiovascularconse
quencesofemotionalarousal(especiallyanger)havebeendiscussedextensivelyelsewhere(e.g.,
Friedman,1992;Kamarck&Jennings,1991;Smith,1992).

Reportedpositiveandnegativeaffecthasbeenshowntobeassociatedwiththereleaseof
secretoryimmunoglobulinA(SIgA),theantibodyconsideredthefirstlineofdefenseagainst
thecommoncold,sothatpositivemoodswouldappeartoenhanceimmunesystemresponding,
butitiscompromisedbynegativemoods(Stone,Cox,Valdimarsdottir,Jandorf,&Neale,
1987;Stoneetal.,1994;Stone,Reed,&Neale,1987).Moreover,theincreasedfrequencyof
desirable(butnotundesirable)eventspredictshigherlevelsofimmuneresponseonsubsequent
days,evenaftercontrollingforthefrequencyofdesirableeventsonthesamedayastheimmune
responsewasassessed(Stoneetal.,1994).Severalstudieshavealsorevealedalaggedrelation
betweenthelowfrequencyofdesirableeventsandtheonsetofrespiratoryillness(Evans&
Edgerton,1991;Stone,Reed,&Neale,1987).Intheirmostrecentexperiments,Stoneandhis
collaboratorshavefoundthatundesirableeventslowerSIgAlevelsbyincreasingnegative

January2000AmericanPsychologist

mood,butdesirableeventsincreaseSIgAlevelsbydecreasingnegativemoodratherthanby
affectingpositivemood(Stone,Marco,Cruise,Cox,&Neale,1996).GreenandSalovey,
however,havearguedthatoneshouldnotexpectdifferentiationofpositiveandnegativemoods
asmediatorswhenbothmoodmeasuresareincludedinthesamestatisticalmodel,becausethe
twoarenegativelycorrelated,oncenonrandomerroristakenintoaccount(Green,Goldman,&
Salovey,1993;Green,Salovey,&Truax,1999).

Cohenandhiscolleagueshaveprovidedstrongevidencethatnegativemoodstatesincrease
people'ssusceptibilitytoillness(Cohenetal.,1995).Inalaboratoryparadigminwhichpeople
areexposedsystematicallytoarespiratoryvirus,individualswhoexperiencedgreaternegative
moodatthetimeoftheinvestigationdevelopedamoresevereillnessinresponsetothevirus
thanthosewhosemoodsweremorepositive(Cohenetal.,1995).Thecurrentchallengeisto
demonstratethattheselinksbetweennegativemoodandillnessaremediatedbychangesin
immuneparameters.

Laboratorystudiesthatmanipulatepeople'smoodsexperimentallyprovidesomeconverging
evidenceregardingthecausalinfluenceofaffectivestatesonimmunesystemfunctioning.
Labottandhercolleaguesaskedhealthycollegewomentoviewtwovideotapes,onethatwas
funnyandonethatwassad(Labott,Ahleman,Wolever,&Martin,1990).SIgAlevelincreased
afterwatchingthehumorousvideo,suggestingenhancedimmunesystemactivity;butit
droppedafterviewingthesadvideo,indicatingsuppressedimmunesystemactivity.These
differences,however,wereobtainedonlyifparticipantshadbeeninstructedtoexpresstheir

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moodovertly(wewillreturntothispointshortly).Dillon,Minchoff,andBaker(19851986)
havesimilarlydemonstrated,amongbothmenandwomen,thatviewingahumorousvideo
resultedingreaterSIgAcomparedwiththatobtainedafterviewinganeutralvideo.

However,severalinvestigatorshavefoundthatinducedpleasantandunpleasantmoodstates
havesimilareffectsonimmunefunctioning.Knappetal.(1992)foundthatinducedpleasantand
unpleasantaffectivestateswereeachassociatedwithdecreasedlymphocyteproliferationtotwo
commonmitogens.Whenagroupofactorswasaskedtoexperiencepleasantandunpleasant
moodsofvaryinglevelsofarousalondifferentdays,allmoodsaffectednaturalkillercell
activityandtheratioofsuppressortocytotoxicTcellssimilarly,regardlessoftheirvalenceor
levelofarousal(Futterman,Kemeny,Shapiro,&Fahey,1994).However,theproliferative
responsetothemitogenphytohemagglutininwassensitivetothevalenceoftheinducedmood;it
increasedafterpositivemoodsanddecreasedafternegativemoods(butseeFutterman,
Kemeny,Shapiro,Polonsky,&Fahey,1992).

Weshouldnotethatsomeofthetestsoftheeffectsofemotionalexperiencesonimmunesystem
functionaremethodologicallycompromised.

At the time, mainstream science rejected the idea that any psychological state,
positive or negative, could affect physical well-being. But studies during the
1980s and early 1990s revealed that the brain is directly wired to the immune
system portions of the nervous system connect with immune-related organs
such as the thymus and bone marrow, and immune cells have receptors for
neurotransmitters, suggesting that there is crosstalk.