RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: There is now some evidence that, in humans, psychological stress may affect immune and neuroendocrine system. In stress response, cytokines are known to orchestrate the cellular interaction of immune system and act as a major messenger in a communication with CNS. Specifically, IL1beta has been reported to be colsely related with stress induced behavior change, such as depression. Accordingly, we assessed cytokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) before and after an academic examination in 45 healthy medical students. Furthermore the possibility that IL1beta TaqI polymorphism may be associated with stress response of IL1beta production was investigated. METHODS: Blood samples were collected on the day of examination and at the second week after examination. For cytokine assay seperated PBMC were incubated for 3 days at 37 degrees C, 5% CO2. DNA was prepared by Ficoll-paque method and polymorphic region was amplified by PCR. After TaqI restriction, products were seperated by 15% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. RESULTS: IL1beta production and stress score were significantly higher on the examination day. The change of stress score was significantly correlated with the change of IL1beta production. However, the frequency of allele A2 was too low that the significance of genetic association could not be properly estimated. CONCLUSION: This study reports that psychological stress is accompanied by an increased production of IL1 beta with significant correlation.