Biomarkers and Mechanisms of Resilience vs. Susceptibility to Stress
Abstract
Project Abstract: Biomarkers and Mechanisms of Resilience vs. Susceptibility to StressProblem to be addressed: As most people have personally experienced, stress is an intrinsic and increasingly dominant part of life for all human beings, and science has shown that chronic stress can exacerbate numerous disorders such as depression, heart disease, obesity, cancer, and autoimmune and infectious disease. It may be impossible to eliminate stress from our lives. However, a practical and useful way of grappling with stress is to minimize or eliminate the harmful effects of chronic (months to years) stress in order to maximize the recently appreciated adaptive/beneficial effects of short-term (minutes to hours) stress. Therefore, the proposed studies will identify biomarkers and mediators of resilience, susceptibility and recovery from chronic stress. The knowledge gained could be invaluable for the evelopment of novel pharmacological and bio-behavioral treatments for stress and stress-related disorders, and for objectively monitoring the trajectory and efficacy of conventional and complementary/alternative treatments for stress and diseases that are associated with stress.Overall Goals: 1) To quantify behavioral and biological markers that predict resilience versus susceptibility to the deleterious immunological and other effects of chronic stress. 2) To identify the direction (increase, decrease, or neutral), and quantify the magnitude, of changes in biomarkers/mediators that identify the point at which chronic stress begins to have deleteriouseffects. 3) To characterize biomarkers of recovery from chronic stress. Relevance: This project is of significant relevance to Naval personnel, their families, civilians,and also for marine mammals because it will elucidate behavioral and biological markers and mediators that could ultimately be used to: 1) Design behavioral and/or biological interventions that maximize GOOD STRESS and minimize BAD STRESS. This would enable individuals to maintain health and perform at optimal levels during challenging conditions and rapidly return toresting equilibrium when the challenge is over. 2) Identify stress resilient versus susceptible individuals before and during deployment. This would allow (and provide targets for) interventions designed to increase stress-resilience before and/or during deployment.Importantly, early identification of stress susceptibility would increase the chances of successful intervention. 3) Initiate, accelerate, and monitor recovery from chronic stress. This would be important for rapid return to fully productive duties, activities, and service after a particularly stressful or challenging experience or tour of duty.Specific Aims: 1) Identify specific markers/mediators (or combinations) that predict increased resistance versus susceptibility to the deleterious effects (defined as increased anxiety and depression and suppressed immunity) of subsequent chronic stress. (Addressed by Expts 1 & 2 independently & together.) 2) Identify biomarkers of the beginning of the deleterious phase ofchronic stress. (Expts 1, 2, & 3 independently & together.) 3) Identify biomarkers of recoveryfrom chronic stress. (Expt 2.) 4) Define the temporal sequence and potential cause-effect relationships among markers/mediators as they change during repeated exposure to chronic stress. (Expts 1, 2, & 3.)Bottom Line: Chronic stress can be extremely harmful, but it is impossible to eliminate stress from our lives, and especially from the lives of Naval other Armed Forces Personnel and their families. Therefore, a more practical and useful approach may be to manage stress in a way that maximizes its adaptive/beneficial effects, and minimizes/eliminates its harmful consequences.The proposed basic laboratory studies will increase our understanding of the mediators and markers of resilience versus susceptibility to stress, and recovery from stress. The knowledge gained could be invaluable for the develop
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 04, 2017
- Source ID
- N000141712116
Entities
People
- Firdaus Dhabhar
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Miami