Neuroendocrine-Immunology: from systemic interactions to the immune tolerance of self neuroendocrine functions

In recent years, it appeared more and more that the three major integrating and adaptive systems of intercellular communication, nervous, endocrine, and immune systems, are closely interconnected. Through these interactions, psychological and neurological influences can modulate the immune response (neuroimmunomodulation), while immune cells may communicate to the neuroendocrine system by a regulatory feedback loop. On the basis of our own observations, it has been shown that the neuroendocrine-immune dialogue occurs in the thymus during the early steps of T-cell differentiation, and could be involved both in T-cell positive as well as negative selections.