The immune system can play a critical role in modifying human behavior, according to a Yale-led study published in the journal Nature. The latest study showed that without immune system communication, the brain does not warn the body about potential dangers in the environment and does not try to avoid those threats.
Meanwhile, several scientists have long known that the immune system has a role in human sensitivity to allergens and diseases in the environment. However, it was unknown whether it also played a role in producing these types of human behaviors in response to allergic stimuli. A team in the Medzhitov lab, led by Esther Florsheim, a postdoctoral researcher at Yale, studied mice that had been sensitized to have allergic reactions to ova, a protein found in chicken eggs.
However, the team of scientists then examined whether they could alter the behavior of sensitized mice by manipulating immune system variables. Medzhitov said that the findings illustrate how the immune system evolved to help animals avoid dangerous ecological niches. He also said that it could one day help suppress excessive reactions to many allergens and other pathogens.