Immunology
Ikaros integrates stress and immunity
By Journal of Clinical Investigation
Apr 3, 2005, 13:11

The immune system and the stress system have evolved together and there is much crosstalk between them. In a study appearing in the April 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Sylvia Asa and colleagues from the University of Toronto present the first evidence that Ikaros, a factor previously thought to be restricted to the lymph and blood, is involved in integrating the stress and immune systems.

The authors use mice lacking Ikaros to show that Ikaros affects the development and function of the stress systems in the brain.

This function of Ikaros parallels its already known role in immune cells.

In an accompanying commentary, George Chrousos and Tomoshige Kino write, "the findings of Ezzat, et al�suggest that changes in [Ikaros] may be associated with human disorders that are related to dysfunction of the stress and immune responses."

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