Stehl Meredith J Lutz, Kazak Anne E, Hwang Wei-Ting, Pai Ahna L H, Reilly Anne F, Douglas Steven D
Division of Oncology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4399, USA.
Neuroimmunomodulation. 2008;15(2):102-7. doi: 10.1159/000148192. Epub 2008 Aug 5.
The diagnosis of a life-threatening illness in a child is one of the most stressful events imaginable for parents and is associated with increased anxiety and distress. Despite associations between stress and immune function in animal and human models, the immune function in caregivers of children at the time of a child-related potentially traumatic event, like cancer, is not known.
Nineteen parents (11 mothers, 8 fathers), representing six caregiver pairs, provided blood for natural killer (NK) cell count by flow cytometry and function assays [% NK whole blood, absolute NK whole blood, LU(20) (lytic unit) peripheral blood mononuclear cells, LU(20) NK cells] and completed self-report measures (acute stress) within 2 weeks of learning their child had cancer. The NK cell assay was also completed with a sample of healthy adults, the immune reference group.
There were similar levels of NK cell activity between caregivers and the immune reference group. Immune level and psychological outcomes were not associated. LU(20) peripheral blood mononuclear cells and LU(20) NK cells were each correlated at r = 0.83 between mothers and fathers in the same family.
Although based on a small sample, these preliminary results suggest that knowledge about stress responses in parents of children with life-threatening illness may be important and provide novel data regarding the shared impact of stress on immune function within caregiver dyads.
对父母来说，诊断孩子患有危及生命的疾病是所能想象到的最具压力的事件之一，且与焦虑和痛苦加剧相关。尽管在动物和人类模型中压力与免疫功能之间存在关联，但在诸如癌症这种与孩子相关的潜在创伤性事件发生时，孩子照料者的免疫功能尚不清楚。
19名父母（11名母亲，8名父亲），代表6对照料者，在得知孩子患癌症后2周内提供血液用于通过流式细胞术检测自然杀伤（NK）细胞计数及功能测定[NK全血百分比、绝对NK全血、LU(20)（裂解单位）外周血单个核细胞、LU(20) NK细胞]，并完成自我报告测量（急性应激）。NK细胞检测也在健康成年人样本（免疫参照组）中完成。
照料者与免疫参照组之间的NK细胞活性水平相似。免疫水平与心理结果不相关。在同一家庭的父母中，LU(20)外周血单个核细胞和LU(20) NK细胞的相关性均为r = 0.83。
尽管基于小样本，但这些初步结果表明，了解患有危及生命疾病孩子的父母的应激反应可能很重要，并提供了关于压力对照料者二元组内免疫功能的共同影响的新数据。
