This study aims to take advantage of a unique opportunity to add immunoassays for several common pathogens to a sub-sample of the Whitehall II epidemiological cohort in order to study the interaction of the social environment, psychosocial stress, immune function, and cellular aging. The biological changes that occur in response to chronic stress appear to parallel those observed in aging. While stress is known to elicit a variety of biological responses that can contribute to the development of disease, the specific mechanisms linking stressors to aging are not well understood. Immune system changes are one of the hallmarks of aging. Age-associated alterations in systemic immunity, referred to as """"""""immunosenescence"""""""", are thought to contribute to the increased incidence and severity of infectious disease in older persons. Latent viral infections such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) and herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) are increasingly implicated as causative agents of immunosenescence, as well as contributors to chronic health conditions characterized by inflammation including dementia and cardiovascular disease. In addition, clear and consistent relationships between psychosocial stress and reactivation of latent infections have been reported. On a separate front, psychosocial stress has recently been linked to cellular aging via telomere length. Telomeres are complex DNA-protein structures that cap and stabilize the physical ends of chromosomes, decreasing in length after each cell division. These two distinct threads of research suggest different pathways through which psychosocial stress might be related to accelerated aging: latent infections and telomeres. Socioeconomic status has been found to be related to both prevalence and immune response to latent pathogens as well as telomere length. Animal evidence suggests that infections may play a role in telomere shortening, but thus far no human studies have examined the relationships between psychosocial stressors, immune response to infection and telomere length. Such a study would greatly increase our understanding of how stress changes the body over the life course and could identify novel strategies for intervention.

Public Health Relevance

This study will increase our understanding of how psychosocial stress accelerates the aging process. We propose to bring together research on two pathways that have been linked to both socioeconomic status and psychosocial stress: the role of latent pathogens in age-related immunosenescence, and the role of telomere shortening in cellular aging. Identifying associations and interactions between psychosocial stress, immune function, and telomere length could lead to novel areas of prevention and intervention in the chronic diseases of aging.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01AG040115-01A1
Application #
8290807
Study Section
Social Sciences and Population Studies Study Section (SSPS)
Program Officer
Nielsen, Lisbeth
Project Start
2012-04-15
Project End
2015-03-31
Budget Start
2012-04-15
Budget End
2013-03-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$626,383
Indirect Cost
$168,389
Name
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Department
Public Health & Prev Medicine
Type
Schools of Public Health
DUNS #
073133571
City
Ann Arbor
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
48109
Noppert, G A; Aiello, A E; O'Rand, A M et al. (2018) Investigating pathogen burden in relation to a cumulative deficits index in a representative sample of US adults. Epidemiol Infect 146:1968-1976
Aiello, Allison E; Chiu, Yen-Ling; Frasca, Daniela (2017) How does cytomegalovirus factor into diseases of aging and vaccine responses, and by what mechanisms? Geroscience 39:261-271
Aiello, A E; Jayabalasingham, B; Simanek, A M et al. (2017) The impact of pathogen burden on leukocyte telomere length in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Epidemiol Infect 145:3076-3084
Feinstein, Lydia; Ferrando-Martínez, Sara; Leal, Manuel et al. (2016) Population Distributions of Thymic Function in Adults: Variation by Sociodemographic Characteristics and Health Status. Biodemography Soc Biol 62:208-21
Aiello, Allison E; Feinstein, Lydia; Dowd, Jennifer B et al. (2016) Income and Markers of Immunological Cellular Aging. Psychosom Med 78:657-66
Meier, Helen C S; Haan, Mary N; Mendes de Leon, Carlos F et al. (2016) Early life socioeconomic position and immune response to persistent infections among elderly Latinos. Soc Sci Med 166:77-85
Aiello, Allison E; Dowd, Jennifer B; Jayabalasingham, Bamini et al. (2016) PTSD is associated with an increase in aged T cell phenotypes in adults living in Detroit. Psychoneuroendocrinology 67:133-41
Simanek, A M; Dowd, J B; Zajacova, A et al. (2015) Unpacking the 'black box' of total pathogen burden: is number or type of pathogens most predictive of all-cause mortality in the United States? Epidemiol Infect 143:2624-34
Markovitz, Adam A; Simanek, Amanda M; Yolken, Robert H et al. (2015) Toxoplasma gondii and anxiety disorders in a community-based sample. Brain Behav Immun 43:192-7
Tarter, Kara D; Simanek, Amanda M; Dowd, Jennifer B et al. (2014) Persistent viral pathogens and cognitive impairment across the life course in the third national health and nutrition examination survey. J Infect Dis 209:837-44

Showing the most recent 10 out of 15 publications