Social interactions, stress, and immunity

Studies reported in the past decade demonstrate considerable individual variation in susceptibility to stress and disease. The origin and nature of these individual differences, however, are not explained fully. This review describes a model of social stress in mice social disruption (SDR)-where repeated exposure elicits a state of glucocorticoid resistance in immune cells. The response to SDR is unique to this stress model, and the magnitude of the response varies greatly between individuals. Observations indicate that individual differences in response to this stressor are associated with specific behavioral strategies that may have implications for host resistance to infectious disease.