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Morphine, Th1/Th2 Differentiation, and Susceptibility to Infection

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Infectious Diseases and Substance Abuse

Part of the book series: Infectious Agents and Pathogenesis ((IAPA))

8. Summary and Conclusion

Chronic morphine treatment has been shown to alter a number of immune parameters including suppression of cellular immunity. We speculate that differentiation of T helper to Th2 effector cells may be a major contributing factor to impaired cellular immunity following chronic morphine treatment. Our results show that chronic morphine treatment in vitro directs T-helper cells toward Th2 differentiation. We also show that chronic morphine treatment differentially modulates the transcriptional “switches” GATA3 and T-bet, thus providing a molecular mechanism by which morphine directs CD4+ differentiation. These studies suggest that therapies that prevent Th2 differentiation and promote Th1 cytokine synthesis may therefore prove beneficial in the immuno-suppressed drug abuse population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Pharmacology and Surgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455

    Sabita Roy, Jing-Hua Wang & Roderick A. Barke

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  1. Sabita Roy
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  2. Jing-Hua Wang
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of South Florida College of Medicine, Tampa, FL

    Herman Friedman  & Thomas W. Klein  & 

  2. Department of Experimental Pathology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Mauro Bendinelli

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Roy, S., Wang, JH., Barke, R.A. (2005). Morphine, Th1/Th2 Differentiation, and Susceptibility to Infection. In: Friedman, H., Klein, T.W., Bendinelli, M. (eds) Infectious Diseases and Substance Abuse. Infectious Agents and Pathogenesis. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48688-1_10

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