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J Montoro,1 J Mullol,2,3
I Jáuregui,4 I Dávila,5 M Ferrer,6
J Bartra,7,3 A del Cuvillo,8 J
Sastre,9,3 A Valero7,3 |
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1 Unidad de Alergia, Hospital La Plana,
Vila-Real (Castellón), Spain
2 Unitat de Rinologia & Clínica de lOlfacte, Servei
dOto-rino-laringologia, Hospital Clínic Immunoal.lèrgia
Respiratòria Clínica i Experimental, IDIBAPS. Barcelona,
Spain
3 Centro de Investigación Biomédicac en Red de
Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES)
4 Servicio de Alergología, Hospital de Basurto, Bilbao,
Spain
5 Servicio de Inmunoalergia, Hospital Universitario,
Salamanca, Spain
6 Departamento de Alergia e Inmunología Clínica, Clínica
Universitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
7 Unitat dAl.lèrgia, Servei de Pneumologia i Al.lèrgia
Respiratòria, Hospital Clinic (ICT), Barcelona, Spain
8 Clínica Dr. Lobatón, Cádiz, Spain
9 Servicio de Alergia, Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Madrid,
Spain |
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Abstract |
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In recent years it
has been seen that
the nervous and
immune systems
regulate each other
reciprocally, thus
giving rise to a new
field of study known
as
psychoneuroimmunology.
Stress is defined as
a general body
response to
initially
threatening external
or internal demands,
involving the
mobilization of
physiological and
psychological
resources to deal
with them. In other
words, stress is
characterized by an
imbalance between
body demands and the
capacity of the body
to cope with them.
The persistence of
such a situation
gives rise to
chronic stress,
which is the subject
of the present
study, considering
its repercussions
upon different
organs and systems,
with special
emphasis on the
immune system and -
within the latter -
upon the
implications in
relation to allergic
disease. Activation
of the
neuroendocrine and
sympathetic systems
through
catecholamine and
cortisol secretion
exerts an influence
upon the immune
system, modifying
the balance between
Th1/Th2 response in
favor of Th2 action.
It is not possible
to affirm that
chronic stress is
intrinsically able
to cause allergy,
though
the evidence of
different studies
suggests than in
genetically
susceptible
individuals, such
stress may favor the
appearance of
allergic disease on
one hand, and
complicate the
control of existing
allergy on the
other.
Key words:
Stress; chronic
stress; allergy;
psychoneuroimmunology
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