Sleep loss activates cellular inflammatory signaling.
BACKGROUND
Accumulating evidence suggests that sleep disturbance is associated with inflammation and related disorders including cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and diabetes mellitus. This study was undertaken to test the effects of sleep loss on activation of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB, a transcription factor that serves a critical role in the inflammatory signaling cascade.


METHODS
In 14 healthy adults (seven women; seven men), peripheral blood mononuclear cell NF-kappaB was repeatedly assessed, along with enumeration of lymphocyte subpopulations, in the morning after baseline sleep, partial sleep deprivation (awake from 11 pm to 3:00 am), and recovery sleep.


RESULTS
In the morning after a night of sleep loss, mononuclear cell NF-kappaB activation was significantly greater compared with morning levels following uninterrupted baseline or recovery sleep, in which the response was found in female but not in male subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
These results identify NF-kappaB activation as a molecular pathway by which sleep disturbance may influence leukocyte inflammatory gene expression and the risk of inflammation-related disease.
Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California-Los Angeles, CA 90095-7076, USA. mirwin1@ucla.edu
Michael R
MR
Irwin
Minge
M
Wang
Denise
D
Ribeiro
Hyong Jin
HJ
Cho
Richard
R
Olmstead
Elizabeth Crabb
EC
Breen
Otoniel
O
Martinez-Maza
Steve
S
Cole
D000328:Adult; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000453:epidemiology; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000378:metabolism; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000453:epidemiology; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
D015703:Antigens, CD; D015850:Interleukin-6; D016328:NF-kappa B; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha