Untitled Document

Research

Christopher L. Coe

Ph.D., Downstate Medical Center, SUNY
Professor, Department of Psychology
ccoe@wisc.edu
http://psych.wisc.edu/faculty/bio/kmCoe.html

Psychoneuroimmunology: The Relationship between Behavior, Emotions and the Immune System.

My research program is concerned with the influence of psychological and environmental factors on health and immunity. The primary focus of my studies has been on two points in the life span when there is a heightened vulnerability to disease: infancy and old age. This emphasis on physiology and diseases early and late in life reflects my belief that the potential effect of psychological factors on immune responses is more significant at these times. During infant development, parenting and other early rearing events can have long-lasting effects on the immune system by altering the trajectory of the maturing immune cells and responses. Similarly, in the elderly individual, psychological processes can exert important effects on immune competence by moderating the process of immune senescence, which eventually results in the progressive decline in immunity in old age.

To carry out these investigations, we rely on studies with both human participants and animal models. As an example of the latter research, we have characterized when old monkeys experience immune senescence, determined their response to vaccinations against flu viruses, and assessed causes of individual variation in this age-related process that typically occurs after they reach 20 years of age. We have also studied how different social conditions and illnesses affect immune responses in the geriatric monkey. To understand how psychological processes can affect immunity, it is necessary to have a clearer appreciation of the ways in which the brain and immune system communicate. Thus, we have investigated how certain products of white blood cells, such as the cytokines, can influence both the nervous system and behavior. It now appears that some of the malaise, fatigue and loss of appetite associated with disease is due to the effects of immune substances on the brain. In turn, there is a reciprocal influence of the brain on immunity, and we have carried out this type of research in people. In a number of projects, we have assessed the influence of emotions and stress on immunity, both in healthy individuals and in ones with illnesses, such as asthma. Moreover, in collaborative studies with other UW researchers, we have investigated how different patterns of brain activity across individuals affect immune responses. This led us to discover the long-term effect that a unilateral stroke, which changes the functioning of that side of the brain, can have on certain immune responses. We will have an opportunity to test some of these ideas directly in humans through the new MIDUS II project.

Representative Publications
Seltzer, M. M., Greenberg, J. S., Hong, J., Smith, L. E., Almeida, D. M., Coe, C., et al. (2009). Maternal cortisol levels and behavior problems in adolescents and adults with ASD. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. DOI 10.1007/s10803-009-0887-0. 2009 Nov 5. [Epub ahead of print].

Lemieux, A., Coe, C., & Carnes, M. (2008). Symptom severity predicts degree of T cell activation in adult women following childhood maltreatment. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 22(6), 994-1003.

Strauman, T., Coe, C., McCrudden, M., Vieth, A., & Kwapil, L. (2008). Individual differences in self-regulatory failure and menstrual dysfunction predict upper respiratory infection symptoms and antibody response to flu immunization. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 22(5), 769-780.

Backonja, M.M., Coe, C.L., Muller, D.A., & Schell, K. (2008). Altered cytokine levels in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of chronic pain patients. J. of Neuroimmunology, 195(1-2), 157-163.

Coe, C., & Laudenslager, M. (2007). Psychosocial influences on immunity, including effects on immune maturation and senescence. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 21(8), 1000-1008.

Loevinger, B.L., Muller, D., Alonso, C., & Coe, C.L. (2007). Metabolic syndrome in women with chronic pain. Metabolism, 56, 87-93.

Hodgson, D.M., & Coe, C.L. (2006). Perinatal programming: Early life determinants of adult health and disease. London: Taylor and Francis.

Coe, C. L., & Lubach, G. R. (2006). Prenatal influences on the development of immunity. J. of Neuroimmunology, 178(Suppl. 1), 35.

Zondervan, K.T., Weeks, D.E., Colman, R.C., Cardon, L.R., Hadfield, R., Scheffler, J., Goudy, T.A, Coe, C.L., Kemnitz, J.W., & Kennedy, S.H. (2004). Familial aggregation of endometriosis in a large pedigree of rhesus macaques. Human Reproduction, 19, 448-455.

Bailey, M.T., & Coe, C.L. (2002). Endometriosis is associated with altered intestinal microflora in the female rhesus monkey. Human Reproduction 17(7), 1704-1708.

Coe, C.L., & Ershler, W.B. (2001). Intrinsic and environmental influences on immune senescence in the aged monkey. Physiology and Behavior 73, 379-384.

Coe, C.L. (1999). Psychosocial factors and psychoneuroimmunology within a life span perspective. In D.Keating (Ed.), Developmental health and the wealth of nations. New York: Guilford Press.

Davidson, R.J., Coe, C.L., Dolski, I., & Donzella, B. (1999). Individual differences in prefrontal activation a symmetry predict natural killer cell activity at rest and in response to challenge. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 13, 93-108.

Coe, C.L., Lemieux, A.M., Rier, S.E., Uno, H., & Zimbric, M.L. (1998). Profile of endometriosis in the aging female rhesus monkey. Journal of Gerontology Medical Sciences, 53A(1), 3-7.

Rogers, S.L., Coe, C.L., & Karaszewski, J. W. (1998). Immune consequences of stroke and cerebral palsy in adults. Journal of Neuroimmunology, 91, 113-120.

Lemieux, A.M., Coe, C.L., & Ershler, W.B. (1996). Surgical and psychological stress differentially affect cytolytic responses in the aged female monkey. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 10, 27-43.

Ershler, W.B., Coe, C.L., Gravenstein, S., Klopp, R.G., Meyer, M., & Houser, W.D. (1988). Aging and immunity in nonhuman primates, I. Effects of age and gender on cellular immune function in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). American Journal of Primatology, 15, 181-188.

Ershler, W.B., Coe, C.L., Laughlin, N., Klopp, R.G., Gravenstein, S., & Roecker, E.B. (1988). Aging and immunity in nonhuman primates. II. Lymphocyte response in thymosin-treated, middle-aged monkeys. Gerontology, 43, 142-146.

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