The neuroimmune connection interferes with tissue regeneration and chronic inflammatory disease in the skin

• Published in: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Vol. 1262; no. 1; pp. 118 - 126
• Main Authors: Peters, Eva M.J., Liezmann, Christiane, Klapp, Burghard F., Kruse, Johannes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01-07-2012; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Activation; Animals; Cancer; Dermatitis - immunology; Dermatitis - physiopathology; Dermatitis, Atopic - immunology; Dermatitis, Atopic - physiopathology; Hair - growth & development; Humans; Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System - immunology; Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System - physiopathology; Immune systems; Immunity, Cellular; Inflammation; Links; Models, Immunological; Models, Neurological; Nerve Growth Factors - immunology; Nerve Growth Factors - physiology; neuroimmune plasticity; neuroimmunology; Neuroimmunomodulation; Neuropeptides - immunology; Neuropeptides - physiology; neurotrophin/neuropeptide stress axis; Organs; Pathogenesis; Pituitary-Adrenal System - immunology; Pituitary-Adrenal System - physiopathology; Psoriasis - immunology; Psoriasis - physiopathology; psychodermatology; Regeneration; Regeneration - immunology; Regeneration - physiology; Skin Neoplasms - immunology; Skin Neoplasms - physiopathology; stress; Stress, Physiological; Stresses; Tissue engineering
• ISSN: 0077-8923; 1749-6632
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2012.06647.x

Research over the past decades has revealed close interactions between the nervous and immune systems that regulate peripheral inflammation and link psychosocial stress with chronic somatic disease. Besides activation of the sympathetic and the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis, stress leads to increased neurotrophin and neuropeptide production in organs at the self–environment interface. The scope of this short review is to discuss key functions of these stress mediators in the skin, an exemplary stress‐targeted and stress‐sensitive organ. We will focus on the skin's response to acute and chronic stress in tissue regeneration and pathogenesis of allergic inflammation, psoriasis, and skin cancer to illustrate the impact of local stress‐induced neuroimmune interaction on chronic inflammation.