Esther M. Sternberg, M.D., Chief

The mission of the Section on Neuroendocrine Immunology and Behavior (SNIB) is to advance the understanding of the role of neuroendocrine and neural factors in susceptibility and resistance to immune mediated disorders, including autoimmune, inflammatory and infectious disorders. The basic research component of the Section investigates mechanisms of hypothalamic CRH deficiency and hyper-responsiveness in inbred rat strains that are relatively autoimmune/inflammatory disease susceptible or resistant in part due to their differential neuroendocrine responsiveness. These studies are carried out at a molecular level (glucocortoid receptor, estrogen receptor, other nuclear hormone receptors, cytokine and cytokine receptors); cellular level (immune/inflammatory responses: hypothalamic cell neurohormone and neuropeptide production); neuroanatomical level (neurohormone and immune molecule mNRA and peptide expression in brain; expression microarray approach to identification of candidate genes); systems level (neuroendocrine and immune responses). These studies have important implications for human physiology, including identifying genetic and environmental factors determining set-points of immune and stress responsiveness, and diseases including arthritis, inflammatory disease, and depression. These studies shed light on the association between stress responsive neural systems and immune disease. A new line of study focuses on the role of these factors in susceptibility, resistance and sequelae of infectious diseases and toxicity of certain bacterial toxins. A new research direction expands on the Section's recently published findings that anthrax lethal toxin selectively represses a range of nuclear hormone receptors, including the glucocorticoid and progesterone receptors. Current studies focus on elucidation of the molecular mechanism of the effect and indentification of the role this effect plays in anthrax toxicity.

The clinical research program of the SNIB focuses on discerning the mechanisms and role of neural immune interactions in inflammatory disease susceptibility and associated behavioral responses. Studies assess the pathogenesis of autoimmune and stress related neuroendocrine and immune responses in inflammatory disease using human subjects and exercise physiology, examining function under physical and psychological stress conditions, and in affective disorders such as depression.

This document was last updated on: 27 August 2003