Trabanelli Sara, Akselrod Michel, Fellrath Julia, Vanoni Giulia, Bertoni Tommaso, Serino Silvia, Papadopoulou Georgia, Born Maren, Girondini Matteo, Ercolano Giuseppe, Ellena Giulia, Cornu Anthony, Mastria Giulio, Gallart-Ayala Hector, Ivanisevic Julijana, Grivaz Petr, Paladino Maria Paola, Jandus Camilla, Serino Andrea
Departement of Oncology, UNIL-CHUV, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland.
Targeting of Cytokine Secreting Lymphocytes (TCSL) Laboratory, Department of Pathology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Nat Neurosci. 2025 Jul 28. doi: 10.1038/s41593-025-02008-y.
Once contact with a pathogen has occurred, it might be too late for the immune system to react. Here, we asked whether anticipatory neural responses might sense potential infections and signal to the immune system, priming it for a response. We show that potential contact with approaching infectious avatars, entering the peripersonal space in virtual reality, are anticipated by multisensory-motor areas and activate the salience network, as measured with psychophysics, electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging. This proactive neural anticipation instigates changes in both the frequency and activation of innate lymphoid cells, mirroring responses seen in actual infections. Alterations in connectivity patterns between infection-sensing brain regions and the hypothalamus, along with modulation of neural mediators, connect these effects to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Neural network modeling recapitulates this neuro-immune cross-talk. These findings suggest an integrated neuro-immune reaction in humans toward infection threats, not solely following physical contact but already after breaching the functional boundary of body-environment interaction represented by the peripersonal space.
一旦与病原体发生接触，免疫系统做出反应可能就为时已晚。在此，我们探讨了预期性神经反应是否能够感知潜在感染并向免疫系统发出信号，使其做好反应准备。我们发现，通过心理物理学、脑电图和功能磁共振成像测量，多感官运动区域能够预期与接近的传染性虚拟化身在虚拟现实中进入个人周边空间的潜在接触，并激活突显网络。这种主动的神经预期会引发先天性淋巴细胞频率和激活的变化，这与实际感染中的反应相似。感染感知脑区与下丘脑之间连接模式的改变，以及神经介质的调节，将这些效应与下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴联系起来。神经网络建模重现了这种神经免疫相互作用。这些发现表明，人类针对感染威胁存在一种综合的神经免疫反应，不仅在身体接触后，而且在突破由个人周边空间所代表的身体与环境相互作用的功能边界后就已出现。
