
Immune System Controls Brain, Shapes Social Behavior - neverminder
http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/immune-system-controls-brain-shapes-social-behavior/81252956/
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daegloe
Link to Nature article:
[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature18626.html)

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cpncrunch
The article seems a little confused. We've known for a long time that the
immune system affects behaviour (see "sickness behaviour").

If I'm understanding this correctly, the key fact seems to be that that IFN-y
is used both as an immune signalling cytokine, as well as being used for
communication within the brain.

It would be interesting to read the full article, but it's paywalled
([http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature18626.html)).

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apathy
[http://sci-hub.bz](http://sci-hub.bz) slash 10.1038/nature18626 may help
here.

Oh god, a chord plot. There's a harbinger of bogosity if ever there was one.
Still...

Interferon gamma is a pretty interesting part of the IFN cascade. Immune
mechanisms control so, so much more than what foreign crap in your body gets
attacked. Tumor suppression, clearance of aging adult stem cells, turnover of
blood -- without our robust immune systems we, as a species and as mammals,
simply would not exist.

The human genome is about 45% repetitive elements, many of them ancient
retroviruses that integrated into the germ cells of our primate ancestors.
Somewhat amazingly, not only does the innate immune system guard against their
mobilization, but also their presence in the major histcompatibility complex
(MHC, the "self/nonself" ID card) has seemingly been co-opted to increase the
diversity available to the immune system itself. Repeats are used as a trigger
to clear stem cells that are past their "sell by" date long before they can
turn into cancers, at least as long as certain safeguards are active. Once the
safeguards are defeated, it gets grim fast.

The immune system is at least as complicated as the brain. It is the result of
eons of evolutionary arms race, and it is both fearsome and glorious.

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Aelinsaar
Next week: 'Brain controls immune system...' and so on ad infinitum

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TeMPOraL
One day people will eventually understand the concept of feedback loops...

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Aelinsaar
Not if their paycheck depends on not understanding it.

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bpchaps
I'm as cynical as the next guy, but it's seriously hard to deny how far this
research has gone in recent times. Give it time.

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TeMPOraL
I must be more cynical than average because all I can think of is how it feels
like almost all research done in the last few decades is turning out to be
utterly bogus. Replication crisis, and so on.

