A paradigm shift is occurring in the attempt to understand immunoregulatory function. Converging data from different disciplines have provided compelling evidence that, like any other system operating in the interests of homeostasis, the immune system is integrated with other psychophysiological processes and is therefore influenced by and capable of influencing the brain. Within the newly created interdepartmental Center for Psychoneuroimmunology Research, interdisciplinary studies are being conducted on several aspects of the interactions among behavioral, neural and endocrine, and immune processes of adaptation. The behavioral components of this program of research currently involve the classical (Pavlovian) conditioning of an enhancement of antibody- and cell-mediated immune responses and studies of the effects of stressful life experiences on immune function. In contrast to earlier conditioning studies, antigen, itself, the most salient stimulus for activation of the immune system, is used as the unconditioned stimulus. Reexposing conditioned animals to a conditioned stimulus previously associated with antigen administration is capable of potentiating the production of antibody in response to an otherwise minimally effective dose of that antigen. Extrapolating from previous studies in animals, we have also initiated clinical studies of the role of conditioning in the pharmacotherapy of autoimmune and other diseases. The social environment and exposure to pheromones emitted by stressed conspecifics differentially influence humoral and cell mediated immune responses to different antigens in different strains of mice. Such effects are being studies in relation to the endogenous release of opioids and adrenocortical steroids and their effects on patterns of cytokine production.

Ader R. Conditioned immunomodulation: research needs and directions. Brain Behav Immun 17 Suppl 1:S51-7, 2003.

Larson MR, Ader R, Moynihan JA. Heart rate, neuroendocrine, and immunological reactivity in response to an acute laboratory stressor. Psychosom Med. 63:493-501, 2001.

Madden KS, Boehm GW, Lee SC, Grota LJ, Cohen N, Ader R. One-trial conditioning of the antibody response to hen egg lysozyme in rats. J Neuroimmunol. 113:236-9, 2001.

Ader R. On the development of psychoneuroimmunology. Eur J Pharmacol. 405:167-76, 2000.

Ader R. The placebo effect: if it's all in your head, does that mean you only think you feel better? Adv Mind Body Med. 16:7-11, 2000.

Moynihan JA, Karp JD, Cohen N, Ader R. Immune deviation following stress odor exposure: role of endogenous opioids. J Neuroimmunol. 102:145-53, 2000.

Ader R, Felten DL, Cohen N. (Eds.). Psychoneuroimmunology-Third Edition. Academic Press: New York, 2000.