There is compelling evidence that the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems communicate by means of a common biochemical language. Good health, whether physical or psychological is predicated on a highly integrated repertoire of defensive responses against external pathogens and stimuli that threaten homeostasis. Disruption of homeostasis, by engagement of either the immune, nervous, or endocrine systems by an external or internal stimulus, will alter the production of signaling molecules in one system, resulting in the modulation of the other systems.
Psychological stress is thought to contribute to reactivation of the virus.
The authors suggest that the use of social stress in mice provides a good model in which to investigate the neuroendocrine mechanisms that underlie behaviorally mediated reactivation of latent herpesviruses. A cytokine is any substance that promotes cell growth and cell division. Certain cytokines are endogenous, and need to be controlled by cell regulatory mechanisms. When these mechanisms fail, endogenous cytokines may be implicated in serious human diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, where apparently deregulated cytokines cause the inflammatory response that produces the symptoms. As a promoter of cell growth and division, a cytokine acts as a messenger to cells, and the transmission of the message requires a binding of the cytokine molecule to a cytokine-specific receptor on the cell surface.