Social disruption stress enhances the primary response to influenza infection through the activation of dendritic cells

Abstract

Psychological stress has a significant impact on the anti‐viral immune response. In previous studies, social disruption stress (SDR) enhanced the adaptive response to influenza A/PR/8 infection, particularly at the level of the immunodominant DbNP366+T cell subset. This study was designed to determine the effect of SDR‐primed dendritic cells (DCs) on the development of enhanced influenza‐specific immune responses. Mice were infected with A/PR/8 24 hours after the transfer of purified DCs from the spleens of HCC or SDR mice. Mice receiving SDR‐primed DCs had significantly increased DbNP366+T cells in the lung 9 days post‐infection when compared to mice receiving HCC DCs. In addition, recipients of SDR‐primed DCs had decreased levels of M1 mRNA expression and increased levels of IFN‐γ mRNA expression in the lung 9 days post‐infection when compared to HCC DC recipients. Companion in vitro cultures showed increased IFN‐γ in the supernatants of SDR‐primed DCs co‐cultured with influenza peptide NP366–74 and CD8+T cells from influenza‐infected mice, compared to cultures containing HCC DCs. Taken together, these data indicate that SDR‐primed DCs enhance the immune response to A/PR/8 infection through the increase in DbNP366+T cell frequency and overall IFN‐γ secretion, which leads to enhanced viral clearance in the SDR‐primed DC recipient mice. Supported by NIH grants NIMH/RO1MH046801–15 and NIDCR/T32DE014320–6.