Koh K B, Lee B K
Department of Psychiatry, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Psychosom Med. 1998 Jul-Aug;60(4):479-83. doi: 10.1097/00006842-199807000-00015.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of anxiety on cell-mediated immunity.
The subjects consisted of 31 patients with anxiety disorders and 31 normal controls, who were gender-matched. Cell-mediated immune function was measured by the lymphocyte proliferative response to phytohemagglutinin (PHA), Interleukin-2 (IL-2) production, and natural killer cell activity (NKA). The extent of anxiety was assessed by the Hamilton rating scale for anxiety and the anxiety subscale of symptom checklist-90 revised (SCL-90-R).
The patients with anxiety disorders were significantly lower than the normal controls in lymphocyte proliferative response to PHA and IL-2 production. However, there was no significant difference in NKA between the two groups. Also, no significant correlation was found between the duration of illness or the degree of anxiety and each immune measure in patients with anxiety disorders.
The results suggest a reduced cell-mediated immune function in patients with anxiety disorders, compared with normal controls. These findings also imply that a variety of immune measures should be assessed at the same time in this kind of psychoneuroimmunology research. This would help elucidate the relationship between anxiety and immune function, which has been unclear in most previous research using a single immune measure.
本研究旨在探讨焦虑对细胞介导免疫的影响。
研究对象包括31例焦虑症患者和31名性别匹配的正常对照者。通过淋巴细胞对植物血凝素（PHA）的增殖反应、白细胞介素-2（IL-2）的产生以及自然杀伤细胞活性（NKA）来测定细胞介导的免疫功能。采用汉密尔顿焦虑评定量表和症状自评量表90修订版（SCL-90-R）的焦虑分量表评估焦虑程度。
焦虑症患者对PHA的淋巴细胞增殖反应和IL-2产生显著低于正常对照者。然而，两组之间的NKA无显著差异。此外，焦虑症患者的病程或焦虑程度与各项免疫指标之间均未发现显著相关性。
结果表明，与正常对照者相比，焦虑症患者的细胞介导免疫功能降低。这些发现还意味着，在这类心理神经免疫学研究中应同时评估多种免疫指标。这将有助于阐明焦虑与免疫功能之间的关系，而在以往大多数采用单一免疫指标的研究中，这种关系尚不清楚。
