Relationship between natural killer activity and anger expression in patients with coronary heart disease

Abstract

Recently, the contribution of the immune system in the development and progression of arteriosclerosis has been suggested. Moreover, psychological stress has also been reported to affect the immune response. Thus, psychological factors are considered to influence the immune response, and an excessive immune response promotes the progression of arteriosclerosis, resulting in the development of coronary heart disease (CHD). In this study, the relationship between the immune response and psychological factors was investigated in CHD patients (n = 74) and normal controls (n = 64). Natural killer (NK) activity was significantly higher in the CHD group than the normal control (CHD vs normal: 8151.39 vs 6653.06, P < 0.05), and was significantly elevated by the suppression of anger and negative emotions (P < 0.05). These results indicate that the characteristic process of psychological response in CHD patients is related to an overresponse of NK activity. We speculate that this linkage significantly influences the development of CHD.

The influence of anger expression on wound healing

“…For example, family dementia caregivers who display high levels of anger out and low levels of anger control had a lower proliferative response to two mitogens than caregivers with low anger out and high anger control (Scalan et al 2001). Conversely, cardiac patients who had better control over the expression of their anger had higher natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity than patients who had poorer anger control (Ishihara et al 2003). Furthermore, among men with prostate carcinoma, anger suppression has been associated with decreased NK cell cytotoxicity (Penedo et al 2006).…”

Physical and mental health problems of Chinese front-line healthcare workers before, during and after the COVID-19 rescue mission: a qualitative study

“…This behaviour may be associated with strongly held beliefs regarding professionalism in the healing of infected people. 22 Because an extended period of stressful rescue work may cause diseases of various organs, 23 the underlying diseases of rescuers undoubtedly increase their risk of sudden death during and after rescue mission. 24 Therefore, hospital administrators should conduct physical and mental health examinations of these HCWs in order to identify high-risk individuals.…”

Effects of a psychological intervention programme on mental stress, coping style and immune function in percutaneous coronary intervention patients

“…It promotes T cell proliferation, enhances the activity of killer cells, and plays an important role in the immune response of the organism. CAD and its related negative emotions act as stressors that stimulate a non-specific response, which leads to a decrease in immune function through the neuroendocrine-immune axis [ 33 ]. Stress states can inhibit the generation of IL-2, confirming the effects of psychological factors on human cellular immune function [ 34 ].…”