INVESTIGADORES
GENARO Ana Maria
artículos
Título:
Thyroid Hormone Modulation of Immunity: Its Participation in Chronic
Autor/es:
ANA MARÍA GENARO; ALICIA JUANA KLECHA; LUCIANA ROMINA FRICK; MARÍA LAURA BARREIRO ARCOS; GRACIELA ALICIA CREMASCHI
Revista:
Current Immunology Reviews
Editorial:
Bentham Science Publishers
Referencias:
Año: 2010 vol. 6 p. 339 - 347
ISSN:
1573-3955
Resumen:
The interaction between the immune and the neuroendocrine systems involves, in a bidirectional circuit, shared
cellular receptors and their coupled signaling pathways. Disruptions of this circuit lead to pathological situations. Between
the endocrine factors, thyroid hormones show to play a role in immunomodulation, maintaining immune system
homeostasis in response to stress-mediated immunosuppression. Several experimental evidences showed that
hypothyroidism leads to a depression of humoral and cell-mediated immune responses, effects that were reversed by
restoration of the euthyroid state. By other hand, chronic stressful situations impair T-cell mediated immunity, affecting
the intracellular signals involved in lymphocyte activation. Consequently, a reduction in both T-cell dependent antibody
production and lymphocyte function were also described. Besides, a decrease in thyroid hormone serum levels was
observed in these conditions. These stress-induced endocrine-immune alterations impact in tumor development, as an
enhancement of tumor growth was described in animal models of chronic stress. Interestingly, hormone replacement
treatment of chronic stressed animals, which restored the euthyroid status, reversed the observed reduction of T-cell
responses improving the outcome of tumor bearing animals. These evidences strengthen the important role that thyroid
hormones play in immunomodulation, with a special emphasis in their participation as neuroendocrine regulators of
stress-mediated immune deficit.