Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, United States.
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States; Department of Communication Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2019 Feb;100:120-126. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.09.043. Epub 2018 Oct 2.
Although falling in love is one of the most important and psychologically potent events in human life, the somatic implications of new romantic love remain poorly understood. Psychological, immunological, and reproductive perspectives offer competing predictions of the specific transcriptional regulatory shifts that might accompany the experience of falling in love. To characterize the impact of romantic love on human genome function, we conducted genome-wide transcriptome profiling of 115 circulating immune cell samples collected from 47 young women over the course of a 2-year longitudinal study. Analyses revealed a selective alteration in immune cell gene regulation characterized by up-regulation of Type I interferon response genes associated with CD1C+/BDCA-1+ dendritic cells (DCs) and CLEC4C+/BDCA-2+ DCs, and a reciprocal down-regulation of α-defensin-related transcripts associated with neutrophil granulocytes. These effects emerged above and beyond the effects of changes in illness, perceived social isolation, and sexual contact. These findings are consistent with a selective up-regulation of innate immune responses to viral infections (e.g., Type I interferons and DC) and with DC facilitation of sexual reproduction, and provide insight into the immunoregulatory correlates of one of the keystone experiences in human life.
尽管坠入爱河是人类生命中最重要和最有力的心理事件之一，但新的浪漫爱情对人体的影响仍知之甚少。从心理学、免疫学和生殖学的角度来看，人们对伴随恋爱经历而来的特定转录调控变化有不同的预测。为了描述浪漫爱情对人类基因组功能的影响，我们对 47 名年轻女性在 2 年纵向研究过程中收集的 115 份循环免疫细胞样本进行了全基因组转录组分析。分析显示，免疫细胞基因调控发生了选择性改变，与 CD1C+/BDCA-1+树突状细胞（DC）和 CLEC4C+/BDCA-2+DC 相关的 I 型干扰素反应基因上调，与中性粒细胞相关的α-防御素相关转录物下调。这些影响超出了疾病变化、感知到的社会隔离和性接触的影响。这些发现与对病毒感染（如 I 型干扰素和 DC）的固有免疫反应的选择性上调一致，也与 DC 促进有性生殖一致，为人类生命中一个关键经历的免疫调节相关因素提供了深入了解。
