Innate immunity impacts social-cognitive functioning in people with multiple sclerosis and healthy individuals: Implications for IL-1ra and urinary immune markers

Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health

Christine Padgett¹  Cynthia A. Honan²  Chai K. Lim³  Heather M. Francis⁴  Skye McDonald⁵  Jason A. Turner⁵  Kiran D.K. Ahuja⁶ 

[1] Corresponding author. School of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, 1 Newnham Drive, Newnham, Launceston, 7250, Australia.;Department of Biomedical Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia;Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia;School of Health Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Australia;School of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart and Launceston, Australia;School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia;

关键词: Multiple sclerosis;    Social cognition;    Inflammation;    TASIT-S;    Theory of mind;    Emotion perception;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Social-cognitive difficulties can negatively impact interpersonal communication, shared social experience, and meaningful relationships. This pilot investigation examined the relationship between social-cognitive functioning and inflammatory markers in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and demographically-matched healthy individuals. Additionally, we compared the immune marker profile in serum and urine-matched samples. Social cognitive functioning was objectively assessed using The Awareness of Social Inference Test – Short (TASIT-S) and subjectively assessed using self-reports of abilities in emotion recognition, emotional empathy, and cognitive theory of mind. In people with MS and healthy individuals, there were moderate-to-large negative relationships between pro-inflammatory biomarkers (serum IL-1β, IL-17, TNF-α, IP-10, MIP-1α, and urine IP-10, MIP-1β) of the innate immune system and social-cognitive functioning. In MS, a higher serum concentration of the anti-inflammatory marker IL-1ra was associated with better social-cognitive functioning (i.e., self-reported emotional empathy and TASIT-S sarcasm detection performance). However, there were mixed findings for anti-inflammatory serum markers IL-4 and IL-10. Overall, our findings indicate a relationship between pro-inflammatory cytokines and social-cognitive abilities. Future studies may provide greater insight into biologically-derived inflammatory processes, sickness behaviour, and their connection with social cognition.

【 授权许可】

Unknown