A GENETIC-BASIS FOR NEUROENDOCRINE-IMMUNE INTERACTIONS

Psychoneuroimmunology is an exciting, complex field that elucidates in teractions among the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. The contr ibution of psychosocial factors and behavioral processes to these inte ractions has been the focus of numerous studies designed to investigat e the intricate pathways that are involved in the ''mind-body connecti on.'' In addition, the effects of this connection on the development a nd progression of various disease conditions are of considerable inter est. Although efforts have been made to identify the cellular and mole cular mechanisms underlying these relationships, the impact of genetic makeup on the communication among these systems has yet to be fully r ealized. The development of sophisticated genetic analytical methods a nd gene mapping techniques now provide the ''tools'' to determine the influence of genetics on behavior-neuroendocrine-immune interactions-a n area of study that may represent the next frontier in psychoneuroimm unology. (C) 1998 Academic Press.