Body and Social Behavior

Summary

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the influenza vaccine will shed important light on how the immune system responds to different positive and negative social experiences. Building on the nuanced animal literature showing that, while animals exposed to an inflammatory challenge show reductions in social exploration consistent with the sickness behavior of social withdrawal, they actually show increases in social engagement behavior during interactions with a cage mate or pair-bonded animal. The present study will examine if a mild inflammatory challenge (receipt of the influenza vaccine) leads to change in actual social behavior in interactions, specifically toward a stranger and separately, toward a close friend. This study will also build on foundational animal research showing that an inflammatory challenge leads to social defeat behaviors in animals.

Timeline

Start

2022-10-17

Primary completion

2023-12-15

Completion

2023-12-15

Publications

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• Background Eisenberger NI, Moieni M, Inagaki TK, Muscatell KA, Irwin MR. In Sickness and in Health: The Co-Regulation of Inflammation and Social Behavior. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2017 Jan;42(1):242-253. doi: 10.1038/npp.2016.141. Epub 2016 Aug 2.
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• Background Hennessy MB, Deak T, Schiml PA. Sociality and sickness: have cytokines evolved to serve social functions beyond times of pathogen exposure? Brain Behav Immun. 2014 Mar;37:15-20. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2013.10.021. Epub 2013 Oct 31.
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• Background Slavich GM, Cole SW. The Emerging Field of Human Social Genomics. Clin Psychol Sci. 2013 Jul;1(3):331-348. doi: 10.1177/2167702613478594.
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• Background Muscatell KA, Dedovic K, Slavich GM, Jarcho MR, Breen EC, Bower JE, Irwin MR, Eisenberger NI. Greater amygdala activity and dorsomedial prefrontal-amygdala coupling are associated with enhanced inflammatory responses to stress. Brain Behav Immun. 2015 Jan;43:46-53. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2014.06.201. Epub 2014 Jul 9.
• Background Slavich GM, Way BM, Eisenberger NI, Taylor SE. Neural sensitivity to social rejection is associated with inflammatory responses to social stress. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Aug 17;107(33):14817-22. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1009164107. Epub 2010 Aug 2.
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• Background Dantzer R, O'Connor JC, Freund GG, Johnson RW, Kelley KW. From inflammation to sickness and depression: when the immune system subjugates the brain. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2008 Jan;9(1):46-56. doi: 10.1038/nrn2297.
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• Background Eisenberger NI, Inagaki TK, Mashal NM, Irwin MR. Inflammation and social experience: an inflammatory challenge induces feelings of social disconnection in addition to depressed mood. Brain Behav Immun. 2010 May;24(4):558-63. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2009.12.009. Epub 2010 Jan 4.
• Background Moieni M, Irwin MR, Jevtic I, Olmstead R, Breen EC, Eisenberger NI. Sex differences in depressive and socioemotional responses to an inflammatory challenge: implications for sex differences in depression. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2015 Jun;40(7):1709-16. doi: 10.1038/npp.2015.17. Epub 2015 Jan 19.
• Background Willette AA, Lubach GR, Coe CL. Environmental context differentially affects behavioral, leukocyte, cortisol, and interleukin-6 responses to low doses of endotoxin in the rhesus monkey. Brain Behav Immun. 2007 Aug;21(6):807-15. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2007.01.007. Epub 2007 Mar 1.
• Background Yee JR, Prendergast BJ. Sex-specific social regulation of inflammatory responses and sickness behaviors. Brain Behav Immun. 2010 Aug;24(6):942-51. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2010.03.006. Epub 2010 Mar 17.
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• Background Inagaki TK, Muscatell KA, Irwin MR, Moieni M, Dutcher JM, Jevtic I, Breen EC, Eisenberger NI. The role of the ventral striatum in inflammatory-induced approach toward support figures. Brain Behav Immun. 2015 Feb;44:247-52. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2014.10.006. Epub 2014 Oct 16.
• Background Muscatell KA, Moieni M, Inagaki TK, Dutcher JM, Jevtic I, Breen EC, Irwin MR, Eisenberger NI. Exposure to an inflammatory challenge enhances neural sensitivity to negative and positive social feedback. Brain Behav Immun. 2016 Oct;57:21-29. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2016.03.022. Epub 2016 Mar 28.
• Background Aron A, Melinat E, Aron EN, Vallone RD, Bator RJ. The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness: A Procedure and Some Preliminary Findings. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 1997;23(4):363-377. doi:10.1177/0146167297234003
• Background Berger J, Heinrichs M, von Dawans B, Way BM, Chen FS. Cortisol modulates men's affiliative responses to acute social stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2016 Jan;63:1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.09.004. Epub 2015 Sep 5.
• Background Glaser R, Robles TF, Sheridan J, Malarkey WB, Kiecolt-Glaser JK. Mild depressive symptoms are associated with amplified and prolonged inflammatory responses after influenza virus vaccination in older adults. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003 Oct;60(10):1009-14. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.60.10.1009.
• Background Pressman SD, Cohen S, Miller GE, Barkin A, Rabin BS, Treanor JJ. Loneliness, social network size, and immune response to influenza vaccination in college freshmen. Health Psychol. 2005 May;24(3):297-306. doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.24.3.297.
• Background Christian LM, Iams JD, Porter K, Glaser R. Inflammatory responses to trivalent influenza virus vaccine among pregnant women. Vaccine. 2011 Nov 8;29(48):8982-7. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.09.039. Epub 2011 Sep 22.
• Background Tsai MY, Hanson NQ, Straka RJ, Hoke TR, Ordovas JM, Peacock JM, Arends VL, Arnett DK. Effect of influenza vaccine on markers of inflammation and lipid profile. J Lab Clin Med. 2005 Jun;145(6):323-7. doi: 10.1016/j.lab.2005.03.009.
• Background Boyle CC, Kuhlman KR, Dooley LN, Haydon MD, Robles TF, Ang YS, Pizzagalli DA, Bower JE. Inflammation and dimensions of reward processing following exposure to the influenza vaccine. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2019 Apr;102:16-23. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.11.024. Epub 2018 Nov 20.
• Background Kuhlman KR, Robles TF, Dooley LN, Boyle CC, Haydon MD, Bower JE. Within-subject associations between inflammation and features of depression: Using the flu vaccine as a mild inflammatory stimulus. Brain Behav Immun. 2018 Mar;69:540-547. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2018.02.001. Epub 2018 Feb 16.
• Background Kuhlman KR, Robles TF, Haydon MD, Dooley L, Boyle CC, Bower JE. Early life stress sensitizes individuals to the psychological correlates of mild fluctuations in inflammation. Dev Psychobiol. 2020 Apr;62(3):400-408. doi: 10.1002/dev.21908. Epub 2019 Sep 6.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.