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MR Vol.13 No.3 indexに戻る
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MODERN RHEUMATOLOGY
Vol.13 No.3 |
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Neuroendocrine-immune system in patients with
rheumatoid arthritis
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| Shinichi Yoshino1 and Eiichi Mukai1 |
| (1) Department of Joint Disease and Rheumatism,
Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8602,
Japan |
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| Abstract |
| The neuroendocrine-immune system plays an important
role in maintaining homeostasis. Since patients with rheumatoid arthritis
(RA) tend to be exposed to long-term physical and psychological stress
during the course of the disease, it is hypothesized that their neuroendocrine-immune
system will become dysregulated. In order to understand the disturbances
in the neuroendocrine-immune systems objectively, we measured and
compared various components of the peripheral blood which were considered
to reflect the state of these systems, in patients with RA and in
control individuals. The serum levels of norepinephrine, interleukin-6
(IL-6), and the CD4/CD8 ratio were higher, whereas the levels of
-endorphin, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and NK cell activity were
lower in the RA subjects than in the control subjects. On the other
hand, the serum levels of methionine?enkephalin, epinephrine, corticotropin-releasing
factor, cortisol, and CD57 were not significantly different in the
two groups. In addition, we demonstrated the effects of hearty laughter,
deep emotion with tears, or general anesthesia on the neuroendocrine-immune
system. What need the most attention are changes in the IL-6 levels
of RA patients. Serum IL-6 levels in RA were significantly higher
than in controls, and fell rapidly to as low as half of their initial
value after a bout of hearty laughter. Our results suggest that adequate
mental intervention might serve to modulate the neuroendocrine-immune
system of RA patients which had failed for various reasons. |
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| Key words |
| Key words Brain reset mechanism - Emotional
status - Heart laughter - Neuroendocrine-immune system - Rheumatoid
arthritis (RA) |
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