title: Reciprocal regulation of the neural and innate immune systems.
abstract: Innate immune responses are regulated by microorganisms and cell death, as well as by a third class of stress signal from the nervous and endocrine systems. The innate immune system also feeds back, through the production of cytokines, to regulate the function of the central nervous system (CNS), and this has effects on behaviour. These signals provide an extrinsic regulatory circuit that links physiological, social and environmental conditions, as perceived by the CNS, with transcriptional 'decision-making' in leukocytes. CNS-mediated regulation of innate immune responses optimizes total organism fitness and provides new opportunities for therapeutic control of chronic infectious, inflammatory and neuropsychiatric diseases.
authors.affiliation: Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, Semel Institute for Neuroscience, 300 UCLA Medical Plaza, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-7076, USA. mirwin1@ucla.edu
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Irwin
authors.forename: Steven W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Cole
mesh_terms: D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D004703:Endocrine System / Q000276:immunology; D005802:Genes, MHC Class II; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000276:immunology; D015213:Neuroimmunomodulation; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines