At this point in our lives, we are no strangers to stress. We know that in some ways acute or short term stress can be good, while chronic or long term stress can be harmful. In particular, chronic stress can cause harmful declines in health, and limit an individual’s life expectancy. More specifically, stress can cause the death of neurons in regions of the brain that are involved in memory such as the hippocampus and may even worsen damage from a stroke. Chronic stress also has a negative impact on our immune systems as it compromises our wound healing processes and makes us more susceptible to infections, limiting our bodies expected reactions to vaccines. Other than the direct impacts chronic stress has on our bodies, it is also often linked to systemic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, and hypertension. Knowing that chronic stress can be harmful to our bodies, what if we were able to prevent the negative impacts of it using a vaccine?
Glucocorticoids (GCs) are often used to combat the adverse effects caused by chronic stress in the stress response and in many ways can be used to mediate or prevent the effects of stress. On the other hand, increased levels of GCs can have detrimental effects and cause interruptions in the normal pathways and stress responses our body has. Using knowledge about GCs and the stress response, Drs. Sapolsky and Steinberg at Stanford University researched and created an “inducible vector system” that would block the damaging effects of GCs by turning them into protective signals ultimately enhancing the survival of neurons. There are other versions of this vector system that would be activated by oxygen deprivation or reactive oxygen species, releasing neuroprotective factors to each process that could result in injury or damage to the brain. The application of this vector system has not been applied to humans and has been researched in cell cultures and thought of hypothetically, yet it has coined the term “stress vaccine” as it would be a preventative counter to the effects of chronic stress if injected into a body.
Ladd, J. M., & Ungar, L. D. (2012). An ethical take on the "stress vaccine". The virtual mentor : VM, 14(1), 60–67. https://doi.org/10.1001/virtualmentor.2012.14.1.oped2-1201
Sophia:)
You're posing some very fascinating questions! I personally feel a little worried about the implications of a stress vaccine, particularly for those of lower socioeconomic status that experience such high levels of stress (with little means of escape). In the event that such a vaccine becomes available, and presumably works, the cost of receiving it would most definitely be absurd. In this case, those of lower SES wouldn't be able to benefit. I wish the efforts (and grant money) going into this research could be explicitly directed at those experiencing chronic stress due to low SES.
ReplyDeleteVia your comment poses a really important question about healthcare accessibility and how we provide care for individuals that may be implicated by factors like stress the most. I think before a stress vaccine is implemented, we should put our focus on the more sustainable and available ways to reduce stress, like those we've practiced in class (and also research this a lot more)! Thank you for your insight!
DeleteThis is such a fascinating topic to think about! I don't think that I would be for a stress vaccine, because I think that some acute stress can be good and we definitely need a stress response for some dangerous situations. I wonder specifically how it would affect the balance of stress needed to affect dopamine levels in the PFC, like the COMT 158 Val/Val people that need some stress to have a surge in do better on exams. I don't know, however, how this vaccine could determine if the stress was just acute or chronic, and know which one to turn off.
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