Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:45:55.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 7 - Psychoneuroimmunology Linking Social Isolation with Cognitive Aging

from Part II - Society Interacting with Brain, Cognition, and Health in Late Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2023

By
Sung-Ha Lee
Edited by
Jeanyung Chey
Jeanyung Chey
Affiliation:
Seoul National University
Get access

Summary

Being an active part of a group or society (i.e., social integration) has been recognized as an important factor in promoting health and well-being in later life. With increasing attention on how social integration can lower morbidity and all-cause mortality in later life, recent studies point to immune response as a candidate link between social integration and physiological mechanisms. Given that physical aging is accompanied by elevated levels of systemic pro-inflammatory markers, such as interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein, social relationships emerge as a factor that can counteract aging processes associated with systemic inflammations. This chapter reviews how the increased inflammatory response (i.e., inflammageing) in late life may facilitate cognitive decline. Moreover, it focuses on how social integration or support plays protective roles in systemic inflammation functions. Finally, it reviews recent findings from health psychology regarding psychological factors, such as purpose in life and alteration of gut microbiome, that moderate the age-related risk factors for maladaptive immune function.

Keywords

inflammageinginterleuken-6 (IL-6)C-reactive protein (CRP)chronic systemic inflammationbrain agingsocial isolationgut microbiome diversitysocial supportpurpose in lifediet
Type
Chapter
Information
Society within the Brain
How Social Networks Interact with Our Brain, Behavior and Health as We Age
 , pp. 162 - 174
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Badal, V. D., Vaccariello, E. D., Murray, E. R., Yu, K. E., Knight, R., Jeste, D. V., & Nguyen, T. T. (2020). The gut microbiome, aging, and longevity: A systematic review. Nutrients, 12(12), 3759. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12123759CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belkaid, Y., & Hand, T. W. (2014). Role of the microbiota in immunity and inflammation. Cell, 157(1), 121–141). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2014.03.011CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beydoun, M. A., Weiss, J., Obhi, H. K., Beydoun, H. A., Dore, G. A., Liang, H., Evans, M. K., & Zonderman, A. B. (2019). Cytokines are associated with longitudinal changes in cognitive performance among urban adults. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 80, 474–487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2019.04.027Google Scholar
Bermúdez-Humarán, L. G., Salinas, E., Ortiz, G. G., Ramirez-Jirano, L. J., Morales, J. A., & Bitzer-Quintero, O. K. (2019). From probiotics to psychobiotics: Live beneficial bacteria which act on the brain–gut axis. Nutrients, 11(4), 890. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11040890Google Scholar
Blane, D., Kelly-Irving, M., & Bartley, M. (2013). Social-biological transitions: How does the social become biological? Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 4(2), 136–146. https://doi.org/10.14301/llcs.v4i2.236Google Scholar
Boyle, P. A., Buchman, A. S., Barnes, L. L., & Bennett, D. A. (2010). Effect of a purpose in life on risk of incident alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment in community-dwelling older persons. Archives of General Psychiatry, 67(3), 304–310. http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.208CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., Crawford, L. E., Ernst, J. M., Burleson, M. H., Kowalewski, R. B., Malarkey, W. B., Van Cauter, E., & Berntson, G. G. (2002). Loneliness and health: Potential mechanisms. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64(3), 407–417. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006842-200205000-00005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calder, P. C., Ahluwalia, N., Brouns, F., Buetler, T., Clement, K., Cunningham, K., Esposito, K., Jönsson, L. S., Kolb, H., Lansink, M., Marcos, A., Margioris, A., Matusheski, N., Nordmann, H., O’Brien, J., Pugliese, G., Rizkalla, S., Schalkwijk, C., Tuomilehto, J., … Winklhofer-Roob, B. M. (2011). Dietary factors and low-grade inflammation in relation to overweight and obesity. British Journal of Nutrition, 106(Suppl. 3), S1–S78. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007114511005460Google Scholar
Calder, P. C., Bosco, N., Bourdet-Sicard, R., Capuron, L., Delzenne, N., Doré, J., Franceschi, C., Lehtinen, M. J., Recker, T., Salvioli, S., & Visioli, F. (2017). Health relevance of the modification of low grade inflammation in ageing (inflammageing) and the role of nutrition. Ageing Research Reviews, 40, 95–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2017.09.001Google Scholar
Cohen, R., Bavishi, C., & Rozanski, A. (2016). Purpose in life and its relationship to all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events: A meta-analysis. Psychosomatic Medicine, 78(2), 122–133. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000000274Google Scholar
Cole, S. W., Hawkley, L. C., Arevalo, J. M., Sung, C. Y., Rose, R. M., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007). Social regulation of gene expression in human leukocytes. Genome Biology, 8(9), R189. https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2007-8-9-r189Google Scholar
Cole, S. W., Levine, M. E., Arevalo, J. M. G., Ma, J., Weir, D. R., & Crimmins, E. M. (2015). Loneliness, eudaimonia, and the human conserved transcriptional response to adversity. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 62, 11–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.07.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corlier, F., Hafzalla, G., Faskowitz, J., Kuller, L. H., Becker, J. T., Lopez, O. L., Thompson, P. M., & Braskie, M. N. (2018). Systemic inflammation as a predictor of brain aging: Contributions of physical activity, metabolic risk, and genetic risk. NeuroImage, 172, 118–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.12.027CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dantzer, R., O’Connor, J. C., Freund, G. G., Johnson, R. W., & Kelley, K. W. (2008). From inflammation to sickness and depression: When the immune system subjugates the brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9(1), 46–56. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2297CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Del Giudice, M., & Gangestad, S. W. (2018). Rethinking IL-6 and CRP: Why they are more than inflammatory biomarkers, and why it matters. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 70, 61–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2018.02.013Google Scholar
Dinan, T. G., & Cryan, J. F. (2017). Brain–gut–microbiota axis and mental health. Psychosomatic Medicine, 79(8), 920–926. http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=28806201&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinksGoogle Scholar
Dinan, T. G., Stilling, R. M., Stanton, C., & Cryan, J. F. (2015). Collective unconscious: How gut microbes shape human behavior. In Journal of Psychiatric Research, 63, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.02.021CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenberger, N. I. (2013). Social ties and health: A social neuroscience perspective. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 23(3), 407–413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2013.01.006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fabbri, E., An, Y., Zoli, M., Simonsick, E. M., Guralnik, J. M., Bandinelli, S., Boyd, C. M., & Ferrucci, L. (2015). Aging and the burden of multimorbidity: Associations with inflammatory and anabolic hormonal biomarkers. Journals of Gerontology: Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 70(1), 63–70. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glu127Google ScholarPubMed
Franceschi, C., Bonafè, M., Valensin, S., Olivieri, F., De Luca, M., Ottaviani, E., & De Benedictis, G. (2000). Inflamm-aging. An evolutionary perspective on immunosenescence. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 908, 244–254. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2000.tb06651.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gyengesi, E., & Münch, G. (2020). In search of an anti-inflammatory drug for Alzheimer disease. Nature Reviews Neurology, 16(3), 131–132. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-019-0307-9Google Scholar
Haddick, P. C. G., Larson, J. L., Rathore, N., Bhangale, T. R., Phung, Q. T., Srinivasan, K., Hansen, D. V., Lill, J. R., Pericak-Vance, M. A., Haines, J., Farrer, L. A., Kauwe, J. S., Schellenberg, G. D., Cruchaga, C., Goate, A. M., Behrens, T. W., Watts, R. J., Graham, R. R., Kaminker, J. S., & Van Der Brug, M. (2017). A common variant of IL-6R is associated with elevated IL-6 pathway activity in Alzheimer’s disease brains. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 56(3), 1037–1054. https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-160524Google Scholar
Holt-Lunstad, J. (2018). Why Social relationships are important for physical health: A systems approach to understanding and modifying risk and protection. Annual Review of Psychology, 69, 437–458. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-122216-011902CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, R., Zubko, O., Bradley, R., Harper, E., Pank, L., O’Brien, J., Fox, C., Tabet, N., Livingston, G., Bentham, P., McShane, R., Burns, A., Ritchie, C., Reeves, S., Lovestone, S., Ballard, C., Noble, W., Nilforooshan, R., Wilcock, G., & Gray, R. (2020). Minocycline at 2 different dosages vs placebo for patients with mild Alzheimer disease: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Neurology, 77(2), 164–174. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2019.3762CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, E. S., Sun, J. K., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2013). Purpose in life and reduced incidence of stroke in older adults: “The Health and Retirement Study.” Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 74(5), 427–432. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0022399913000391CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, E. S., Chen, Y., Nakamura, J. S., Ryff, C. D., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2021). Sense of purpose in life and subsequent physical, behavioral, and psychosocial health: An outcome-wide approach. American Journal of Health Promotion, 36(1):137–147. https://doi.org/10.1177/08901171211038545Google Scholar
Kowalski, K., & Mulak, A. (2019). Brain–gut–microbiota axis in Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, 25(1), 48–60. https://doi.org/10.5056/jnm18087Google Scholar
Kuhlman, K. R., Chiang, J. J., Horn, S., & Bower, J. E. (2017). Developmental psychoneuroendocrine and psychoneuroimmune pathways from childhood adversity to disease. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 80(April), 166–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.05.020CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leschak, C. J., & Eisenberger, N. I. (2019). Two distinct immune pathways linking social relationships with health: Inflammatory and antiviral processes. Psychosomatic Medicine, 81(8), 711–719. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000000685Google Scholar
Miller, G. E., Lachman, M. E., Chen, E., Gruenewald, T. L., Karlamangla, A. S., & Seeman, T. E. (2011). Pathways to resilience: Maternal nurturance as a buffer against the effects of childhood poverty on metabolic syndrome at midlife. Psychological Science, 22(12), 1591–1599. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797611419170Google Scholar
Moieni, M., & Eisenberger, N. I. (2018). Effects of inflammation on social processes and implications for health. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1428(1), 5–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.13864CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mosca, A., Leclerc, M., & Hugot, J. P. (2016). Gut Microbiota diversity and human diseases: Should we reintroduce key predators in our ecosystem? Frontiers in Microbiology, 7(1182), 842. http://journal.frontiersin.org/Article/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00455/abstractGoogle Scholar
Muscatell, K. A., Brosso, S. N., & Humphreys, K. L. Socioeconomic status and inflammation: A meta-analysis. Molecular Psychiatry 25, 2189–2199 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-018-0259-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mwilambwe-Tshilobo, L., Ge, T., Chong, M., Ferguson, M. A., Misic, B., Burrow, A. L., Leahy, R. M., & Spreng, R. N. (2019). Loneliness and meaning in life are reflected in the intrinsic network architecture of the brain. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 14(4), 423–433. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsz021Google Scholar
Nersesian, P. V, Han, H.-R., Yenokyan, G., Blumenthal, R. S., Nolan, M. T., Hladek, M. D., & Szanton, S. L. (2018). Loneliness in middle age and biomarkers of systemic inflammation: Findings from midlife in the United States. Social Science & Medicine ( 1982 ), 209, 174–181. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277953618301667CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nguyen, T. T., Zhang, X., Wu, T. C., Liu, J., Le, C., Tu, X. M., Knight, R., & Jeste, D. V. (2021). Association of loneliness and wisdom with gut microbial diversity and composition: An exploratory study. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12(March), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.648475Google Scholar
Piber, D., Olmstead, R., Cho, J. H. J., Witarama, T., Perez, C., Dietz, N., Seeman, T. E., Breen, E. C., Cole, S. W., & Irwin, M. R. (2019). Inflammaging: Age and systemic, cellular, and nuclear inflammatory biology in older adults. Journals of Gerontology: Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 74(11), 1716–1724. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glz130Google ScholarPubMed
Puzianowska-Kuźnicka, M., Owczarz, M., Wieczorowska-Tobis, K., Nadrowski, P., Chudek, J., Slusarczyk, P., Skalska, A., Jonas, M., Franek, E., & Mossakowska, M. (2016). Interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein, successful aging, and mortality: The PolSenior study. Immunity and Ageing, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12979-016-0076-xGoogle Scholar
Ryff, C. D., Heller, A. S., Schaefer, S. M., van Reekum, C., & Davidson, R. J. (2016). Purposeful engagement, healthy aging, and the brain. Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports, 3(4), 318–327. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40473-016-0096-zCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salvador, A. F., de Lima, K. A. & Kipnis, J. Neuromodulation by the immune system: a focus on cytokines. Nat Rev Immunol 21, 526–541 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-021-00508-zGoogle Scholar
Shiba, K., Kubzansky, L. D., Williams, D. R., VanderWeele, T. J., & Kim, E. S. (2021). Associations between purpose in life and mortality by SES. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 61(2), e53–e61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2021.02.011Google Scholar
Shiovitz-Ezra, S., & Parag, O. (2019). Does loneliness “get under the skin”? Associations of loneliness with subsequent change in inflammatory and metabolic markers. Aging and Mental Health, 23(10), 1358–1366. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2018.1488942Google Scholar
Smith, K. J., Gavey, S., Riddell, N. E., Kontari, P., & Victor, C. (2020). The association between loneliness, social isolation and inflammation: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 112, 519–541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.02.002Google Scholar
Sochocka, M., Donskow-Łysoniewska, K., Diniz, B. S., Kurpas, D., Brzozowska, E., & Leszek, J. (2019). The gut microbiome alterations and inflammation-driven pathogenesis of alzheimer’s disease – A critical review. Molecular Neurobiology, 56(3), 1841–1851. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035–018-1188-4Google Scholar
Uchino, B. N. (2006). Social support and health: A review of physiological processes potentially underlying links to disease outcomes. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 29(4), 377–387. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-006-9056-5Google Scholar
Uchino, B. N., Landvatter, J., Zee, K., & Bolger, N. (2020). Social support and antibody responses to vaccination: A meta-analysis. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 54(8), 567–574. https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaaa029Google Scholar
Uchino, B. N., Trettevik, R., Kent de Grey, R. G., Cronan, S., Hogan, J., & Baucom, B. R. W. (2018). Social support, social integration, and inflammatory cytokines: A meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 37(5), 462–471. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000594CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Valentini, L., Pinto, A., Bourdel-Marchasson, I., Ostan, R., Brigidi, P., Turroni, S., Hrelia, S., Hrelia, P., Bereswill, S., Fischer, A., Leoncini, E., Malaguti, M., Blanc-Bisson, C., Durrieu, J., Spazzafumo, L., Buccolini, F., Pryen, F., Donini, L. M., Franceschi, C., & Lochs, H. (2015). Impact of personalized diet and probiotic supplementation on inflammation, nutritional parameters and intestinal microbiota – The “RISTOMED project”: Randomized controlled trial in healthy older people. Clinical Nutrition, 34(4), 593–602. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2014.09.023Google Scholar
Verdi, S., Jackson, M. A., Beaumont, M., Bowyer, R. C. E., Bell, J. T., Spector, T. D., & Steves, C. J. (2018). An Investigation into physical frailty as a link between the gut microbiome and cognitive health. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2018.00398Google Scholar
Vogt, N. M., Kerby, R. L., Dill-McFarland, K. A., Harding, S. J., Merluzzi, A. P., Johnson, S. C., Carlsson, C. M., Asthana, S., Zetterberg, H., Blennow, K., Bendlin, B. B., & Rey, F. E. (2017). Gut microbiome alterations in Alzheimer’s disease. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-13601-yGoogle Scholar
Wyss-Coray, T., & Rogers, J. (2012). Inflammation in Alzheimer disease – A brief review of the basic science and clinical literature. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, 2(1), a006346–a006346. https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a006346Google Scholar
Yu, L., Boyle, P. A., Wilson, R. S., Levine, S. R., Schneider, J. A., & Bennett, D. A. (2015). Purpose in life and cerebral infarcts in community-dwelling older people. Stroke, 46(4), 1071–1076. https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.114.008010Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×