Stress and immunity: implications for viral disease and wound healing.

It is now well established that psychological stress can downregulate the cellular immune response. Communication between the central nervous system and the immune system occurs via a complex network of bidirectional signals linking the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. Stress disrupts the homeostasis of this network, which in turn, alters immune function. In this review, we discuss the role of stress in modulating cellular immune function and the potential health implications of this downregulation.