Michigan State University researchers have been investigating how certain types of stress may interact with immune cells, regulating just how these cells will respond to allergens, potentially leading to and even cause the physical symptoms and disease, as published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.
This research is federally funded by The National Institutes of Health. Results of the study have provided new insights by showing that a stress receptor called corticotropin releasing factor has the ability to send signals to certain immune mast cells, and also controls how they defend the body.
Histamine responses of mice to 2 types of stress conditions were compared, which were allergic and psychological stress where the immune system becomes overworked. One group of mice had cells lacking in corticotropin releasing factor, and the other group classed as normal had CRF1 receptors on their mast cells.
Corticotropin releasing factor deficient mice exposed to sllergic stress had a 54% decrease in disease, mice that were exposed to psychological stress had a 63% decrease, according to the researchers. The findings very possibly may well change the way many disorders such as asthma and others such as irritable bowel syndrome are treated.
This is a huge step forward in decoding how stress can make us sick, and serves to open a door to provide a new target pathway in the mast cell for the development of therapies and to improve the quality of life in individuals suffering with common stress related diseases.
