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. 2016 Nov:58:173-180.
doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2016.07.001. Epub 2016 Jul 1.

Sex differences in the association between stressor-evoked interleukin-6 reactivity and C-reactive protein

Kimberly G Lockwood  1 , Anna L Marsland  2 , Sheldon Cohen  3 , Peter J Gianaros  2
Affiliations

Sex differences in the association between stressor-evoked interleukin-6 reactivity and C-reactive protein

Kimberly G Lockwood et al. Brain Behav Immun. 2016 Nov.

Abstract

Individuals differ consistently in the magnitude of their inflammatory responses to acute stressors, with females often showing larger responses than males. While the clinical significance of these individual differences remains unclear, it may be that greater inflammatory responses relate to increased systemic inflammation and thereby risk for chronic inflammatory disease. Here, we examined whether acute stressor-evoked interleukin (IL)-6 responses associate with resting levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of systemic inflammation, and whether this association differs by sex. Subjects were 57 healthy midlife adults (30-51years; 33% female; 68% white). Blood was drawn before and 30-min after two mental stress tasks: a multisource interference task and a Stroop color word task. Hierarchical regressions controlling for age, sex, race, and BMI tested whether stressor-evoked IL-6 responses were associated with resting CRP and whether this association differed by sex. Results indicated that sex and stressor-evoked IL-6 responses interacted to predict CRP (ΔR2=0.08, B=-1.33, β=-0.39, p=0.02). In males, larger stressor-evoked IL-6 responses associated with higher CRP, whereas in females, stressor-evoked IL-6 responses showed a non-significant negative association with CRP. These findings indicate that inflammatory responses to acute stressors associate with resting levels of CRP; however, this association differs by sex. Previous literature suggests that there are sex differences in stressor-evoked IL-6 responses, but this is the first study to show sex differences in the relationship between acute inflammatory responses and systemic inflammation. The contribution of these sex differences to inflammatory disease risk warrants further investigation.

Keywords: Acute stress; Individual differences; Inflammation; Interleukin-6; Reactivity; Sex differences.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean circulating IL-6 (pg/mL) at each time point for overall sample (solid line), males (dashed line), and females (dotted line). Blood samples were taken after a baseline period (30 min) and after the final 30-min post-task rest period (85 min). Error bars indicate standard error of the mean of IL-6.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Association of stressor-evoked IL-6 response with resting CRP for overall sample (solid line), males (dashed line), and females (dotted line). IL-6 response is shown as raw change for illustrative purposes. CRP values are log10 transformed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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