PNAS: What if some stress really protects your body?

Stress is associated with a variety of serious health problems, from insomnia to high blood pressure, obesity and even heart disease
.
But it's widely believed that some stress can also help, such as someone rushing to work deadlines
.
But if some level of stress really protects the body?

A new study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine published Sept.
26 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the immune system may benefit
from measures of stress.

Fabio Cominelli, professor of medicine and pathology, associate dean for program development at the School of Medicine, and senior author, said: "This is one of
the few studies that suggests that chronic stress may have beneficial effects rather than negative effects.
" "It was a bit of a surprise
for us.
"

Psychological stress has been found to worsen
the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Similarly, the third lymphoid organs of the intestine (TLOs) — immune cells that form in response to chronic inflammation or injury — are associated
with more severe inflammation.
Although the role of TLO and stress in IBD is controversial, the formation of TLO under stress conditions has not been studied
.

In this study, after 56 days of stress, a mouse model with Crohn's disease-like ileitis showed a significant increase in the formation of TLOs in the colon, an immune response
.

The composition of the microbiome of the stressed mice is the same as
that of the control mice.

Instead, stress was found to increase the production
of the cytokines IL-23 and IL-22.

Stress mice lacking IL-23 receptors increased IL-23, but IL-22 did not increase and could not increase the formation of TLO
.

Given the association of TLOs with other diseases, the researchers reasoned that stressed mice were more susceptible to a "secondary shock"
from the colon.

"Our findings suggest that psychological stress induces the formation of TLOs by increasing the production of IL-23," Cominelli said
.

Often, stress is associated
with more severe inflammation.

"We found that chronic daily stress that lasted for six weeks was beneficial for preventing secondary injury
.

essay

Chronic stress induces colonic tertiary lymphoid organ formation and protection against secondary injury through IL-23/IL-22 signaling