Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01189 (beta-endorphin)
 21,003 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We investigated changes in the immunoendocrine system during fasting. Ten hospitalized patients aged 14-46 y with psychosomatic disorders fasted for 7 or 10 d. Blood samples were collected before and on days 3 and 7 of the 7-d fasts. When fasting continued to 10 d, an additional sample was taken on day 10. We measured blood cellularity (white blood cells and total lymphocytes), the total number and percentage of lymphocyte subsets (CD2, CD3, CD4, CD8, and CD19), natural killer (NK) cell activity, cytokines (interleukin 1 beta, interleukin 2, interleukin 6, granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interferon gamma), and soluble interleukin 2 receptors. Corticotropin, cortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) concentrations were also determined. Although the total number of lymphocytes decreased during fasting, NK cell activity increased significantly. Plasma cortisol and DHEAS concentrations also increased significantly whereas changes in corticotropin concentrations were not significant. The total number and percentage of CD4 cells decreased significantly during fasting but no other lymphocyte subsets changed significantly. The percentage of CD4 cells was negatively correlated with cortisol concentrations during fasting. No detectable changes occurred in cytokines or soluble interleukin 2 receptors during the study. All measured immunoendocrine values that changed during fasting returned to prefasting values during the refeeding period. These findings indicate that fasting affects immune variables such as T cell subsets and NK cell activity at least in part through changes in adrenal gland-related hormones.
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PMID:Alterations in lymphocyte subsets and pituitary-adrenal gland-related hormones during fasting. 920 83

Psoriasis constitutes one of the most representative examples of psychosomatic disorders. The published work investigating the psychological parameters and the way they interact during the course of the disease is extensive, whereas only a few studies have focused on the neuroendocrine framework of psoriasis. In the present study, the objective was to investigate the neuroendocrine parameters of psoriasis and the way they interact with psychopathological and immune variables. Patients with psoriasis (n=24) and the same number of matched healthy controls underwent psychiatric evaluation with interviews and psychometric questionnaires. Both of the groups underwent the corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) test and the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) to investigate functional parameters of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The evaluation of immune variables included the estimation of the distribution of T-cell and natural killer lymphocytes. Levels of depressive and anxiety features were increased within subjects with psoriasis and they were significantly correlated with stressful life events and the extent of the disease. The adrenocorticotrophic hormone and cortisol levels increased after CRH infusion without significant differences between the two groups and the psoriatic subjects' cortisol suppression after DST was within normal range, though relatively blunted. No significant correlations were identified among neuroendocrine, psychopathological and immune parameters. No particular neuroendocrine profile has been identified among psoriatic patients and the hypothesized interaction with psychopathological and immune parameters was not replicated. Nevertheless, it is still premature to exclude the possibility that a subtle latent alteration of the HPA axis function might exist, in psoriasis, either stemming from the psychopathology or from the disease per se.
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PMID:Neuroendocrine stimulatory tests of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis in psoriasis and correlative implications with psychopathological and immune parameters. 1920 35