Enough Sleep = Immunity boost = Covid19 protection
How sleep
strengthens the immune system
Getting enough sleep is vital to supporting our immune system in fighting
off pathogens – this much is common knowledge. But what we don't know is how
exactly sleep affects certain immune functions.
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Poor sleep has long been linked with Alzheimer’s disease, but researchers have understood little about how sleep disruptions drive the disease. Now, studying mice and people, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that sleep deprivation increases levels of the key Alzheimer’s protein tau.
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Just
three hours without sleep are sufficient to reduce the function of important
immune cells. Our results show a potential fundamental mechanism by which sleep
helps us fight infection
Luciana Besedovsky
The scientists conducted a 24-hour experiment with
volunteers: One group was allowed to sleep for eight hours at night, a second
group stayed awake for the whole period. During the experiment, blood was
regularly taken from the participants. In particular, the research team
examined the binding strength of T-cells to a molecule named ICAM-1
(intercellular adhesion molecule-1), which enables them to attach to other
cells, in a process known as adhesion. This is important for their function:
"T-cells circulate constantly in the bloodstream looking for pathogens.
Adhesion to other cells enables them to migrate to different areas in the body
and, for example, dock onto infected cells in order to subsequently kill
them," says Stoyan Dimitrov, first author of the study. As the study
shows, the adhesion of T-cells was significantly reduced in sleep deprived
subjects.
In order to further investigate how sleep affects T-cell
function, plasma – the part of the blood that contains soluble substances such
as hormones – was taken from sleeping and sleep deprived subjects. This plasma
was applied to isolated T-cells for a few minutes. Plasma taken from sleep
deprived subjects reduced the adhesion significantly compared to the plasma
from subjects who had slept.
In another experiment, the team was able to reverse this
suppression of T-cell function by blocking Gαs-coupled receptors. Amongst other
substances, the stress hormone adrenaline and prostaglan-dins, which play a
role in inflammation, bind via these receptors. "This shows that even
following brief sleep deprivation soluble molecules activate these receptors
and thereby impair the adhesion of the T-cells," says Luciana Besedovsky,
head of the study.
In parallel experiments, the researchers were also able to
show that some of the soluble molecules that bind to this receptor class, such
as adrenaline, prostaglandins and the neuromodulator adeno-sine, strongly
impair adhesion when administered directly to T-cells. The same substances are
also strongly elevated in a number of pathological conditions, such as chronic
stress or cancer. "This means that our findings also have clinical
relevance outside sleep research. They could explain why the immune system is
suppressed in some diseases," says Lange. Besedovsky summarizes:
"Just three hours without sleep are sufficient to reduce the function of
important immune cells. Our results show a potential fundamental mechanism by
which sleep helps us fight infection."
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