Year: 2021
Type: editorial
Abstract: Neuroendocrine-Immunological Interactions in Health and DiseaseHistorically, scientists have delimited the immune, endocrine, and neural systems to study physiology and disease (Figure 1).Although questions relating to whether there is a strict boundary between these systems do persist today, we do not believe in that.Biology does not seem to "respect" the established limits between these systems.Indeed, since Claude Bernard's early studies in physiology, we know that the different organs and systems must communicate in an integrative way to maintain homeostasis.During recent decades, we have investigated these systems in an integrative way, since both the tools and the information to perform these studies are now available.In this Research Topic, we gathered diverse studies that increase our knowledge about the complex interactions among the immune, endocrine, and neural systems in both homeostasis and disease, and the potential therapeutic or disrupting agents of these circuits.The similarities between nervous, immune, and endocrine systems are remarkable, and there are a number of shared mechanisms, agents, and receptors.As an example, cytokines and hormones are both important mediators of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and hypothalamuspituitary-thyroid (HPT) axes in response to stress and promoting immune modulation.Activation of the HPA axis triggers the synthesis of hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), followed by the release of the pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and activation of adrenal glands to secrete cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA).An imbalance of these components affects both positive and negative regulatory loops, leading to the predisposition for, and/or exacerbation of several infectious diseases.This imbalance was well described by Fernandez et al. as they studied the immune-endocrine system in the presence of tuberculosis and diabetes comorbidity, and demonstrated opposite effects on DHEA and cortisol.In humans, the immune response developed against B. abortus is also influenced by DHEA and cortisol secretions.Here, Gentilini et al. evaluated the consequence of both adrenal steroids on synoviocytes during B. abortus infection, contributing to knowledge about this infectious osteoarthritis.Furthermore, infectious-driven immune stimulation could sustain glucocorticoid production through changes in the intra-adrenal catabolic pathways or induced cellular damage, as shown by Silva Barbosa et al. and by Chen et al. in experimental models of Chagas disease and sepsis, respectively.
Source: Frontiers in Endocrinology
Language: English
Subfield: Behavioral Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,950
OpenAlex ID: W3198217616