For the immune system to work properly, leukocytes need to be able to detect pathogens and move to appropriate locations. This session discussed work about how regulators and consequences of the movement of immune cells. The first presentation (Stress-induced Redistribution of Immune Cells: From Barracks, to Boulevards, to Battlefields) by Firdaus Dhabhar laid out the movement of immune cells in response to stress.
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Dr. Spiegel presented on Circadian Cortisol Rhythms, Depression and Cancer Survival: Timing is Everything. One issue discussed is that because symptoms of cancer and cancer treatment overlap with depression, depression may be under-diagnosed (and consequently under treated) in patients with cancer. Depression is a concern both because of diminished quality of life, but also because there is data suggesting that depressed cancer patients are at increased risk for mortality, or conversely have lower survival times.
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This was the first time that I attended the Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) Research Society’s annual meeting. For more details, see their website https://www.pnirs.org/. I have been fascinated by PNI for about a year now, but it is not (yet) a primary part of my research. I am a (research) health psychologist by training, so I am more familiar with the psychological aspect of PNI more than I am with the neuroscience or basic immunology and biology.
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