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NK cell function is depressed in Gulf War Illness
Author(s) -
Whistler Toni,
Fletcher Mary Ann,
Lonergan William,
Klimas Nancy G
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.lb328
Subject(s) - perforin , immune system , stressor , cytotoxic t cell , proinflammatory cytokine , immunology , medicine , cell , analysis of variance , endocrinology , physiology , biology , cd8 , inflammation , clinical psychology , genetics , in vitro
Gulf War Illness remains a serious health consequence for veterans deployed during the first Gulf War. Our understanding of the health consequences remains inadequate, and this is of concern with another deployment occurring now. Chronic immune cell dysfunctions have been reported, although the literature is not uniform. We used an exercise stress paradigm to determine differences in immune measures and gene expression profiles between the baseline, immediately after exercise and 4 hours later, in GWI subjects compared to sedentary veteran controls. Repeated‐measures ANOVA showed that there were statistically significant differences for NK cytotoxicity and NK cell subsets between cases and controls. Linear regression analysis correlating NK cell numbers to expression profiles showed high correlation of genes relating to NK cell function. We found the intracellular perforin levels trended lower and showed a flatter profile in GWI cases than controls, as did the expression levels of the perforin gene, PRF1. GWI patients demonstrated impaired immune function, involving Th2 and proinflammatory cytokines, cytotoxic NK and T cells, and dysregulated mediators of the stress response including salivary cortisol, compared to control subjects. An important observation was that the exercise challenge augments these differences, with the most significant effects observed immediately after the stressor.