Regulation of NK Cells During Acute Psychological Stress by Noradrenaline

Stress has been suggested for a long time to be associated with a decrease in natural killer (NK) activity. There is also accumulating evidence from psychoneuroimmunological research1 that stress situations such as examination2,3 or bereavement4 may alter a wide range of immunological functions, especially NK cell function. Moreover, increased incidence of viral infections or cancer have been reported in stressed populations5,6.