The pathogenesis of herpes zoster is closely linked to reduced varicella-zoster virus-specific cell-mediated immunity. However, little is known about the interplay between natural killer cells and psychological stress in the pathogenesis of herpes zoster. This study aimed to investigate possible associations among natural killer cells, T cells and psychological stress in herpes zoster. Interferon-gamma secretion from natural killer cell, psychological stress events, stress cognition scale scores and cytomegalovirus-specific cell-mediated immunity were compared between 44 patients with herpes zoster and 44 age- and gender-matched control subjects. A significantly lower median level of interferon-gamma secreted by natural killer cells was observed in patients with a recent diagnosis of herpes zoster than in control subjects (582.7 pg/ml vs. 1783 pg/ml; P = 0.004), whereas cytomegalovirus-specific cell-mediated immunity was not associated with herpes zoster. Psychological stress events and high stress cognition scale scores were significantly associated in patients with herpes zoster (P<0.001 and P = 0.037, respectively). However, reduced interferon-gamma secretion from natural killer cell and psychological stress were not associated. In conclusion, patients with a recent diagnosis of herpes zoster display reduced interferon-gamma secretion from natural killer cells and frequent previous psychological stress events compared with controls. However, reduced natural killer cell activity is not an immunological mediator between psychological stress and herpes zoster.
Objective Among veterans, the prevalence of rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is higher than among the general population, and some evidence suggests that this is related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The purpose of this study was to determine whether the frequency of RBD differs depending on the presence of PTSD or trauma.Methods Patients who underwent nocturnal polysomnography (PSG) and sleep-related questionnaire surveys at the Veteran Health Service Medical Center were reviewed retrospectively. Based on patients with PTSD (n=20; 100% male; 67.9±8.5 years of age), we matched patients exposed to trauma without PTSD (n23; 100% male; age 64.0±13.4) and patients without trauma (n=21; 100% male; age 59.86±10.9).Results PTSD patients reported dream enactment behavior more than the trauma-exposed group without PTSD or the control group (p=0.006). After adjusting for age, there were more RBD patients in the PTSD group than in the trauma exposed group (p=0.049).Conclusion The results showed that RBD occurred significantly more in veterans with PTSD than those exposed to trauma, which suggests that there may be a pathophysiological association between PTSD and RBD.
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