Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38897331›Full record

ArticleBrain, behavior, and immunity2024

Stress-related gene regulation: Do isolated and connected individuals differ?

Yvonne S Yang, Jonathan K Wynn, Steve Cole, Michael F Green

Registry-linked trialAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Brain, behavior, and immunity, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07690605 (The Genomic and Well-Being Impacts of an Extraverted Behavior Intervention), which is not on this map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT07690605 nacompletednot on this map

The Genomic and Well-Being Impacts of an Extraverted Behavior Intervention

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of California, RiversideRan2024 to 2024Enrolled119ConditionsPsychological Well-being and Immune Health ProfileArmsSociable (extraverted) behavior
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Positive social relations, loneliness, and immune system gene regulation.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Yvonne S YangVISN22 Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, 11301 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90073, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA. Electronic address: ysyang@mednet.ucla.edu.
Jonathan K WynnVA RR&D Center on Enhancing Community Integration for Homeless Veterans (THRIVe), VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, 11301 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90073, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Steve ColeDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA; Division of Hematology-Oncology, UCLA School of Medicine, 11-934 Factor Building, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Michael F GreenVA RR&D Center on Enhancing Community Integration for Homeless Veterans (THRIVe), VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, 11301 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90073, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.

Funding

The Determinants of Social Disconnectedness: A Spectrum from the General Community to Severe Mental IllnessR01MH110470 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI GREEN, MICHAEL F. · 2016 to 2020
$2.6M
CSRD VA IK2 CX001875NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH110470
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSocial isolation and loneliness (known as social disconnection, collectively) lead to serious downstream health effects, including shortening of lifespan and higher risk for cardiac disease. We must better understand how isolation and loneliness lead to these negative health outcomes. Previous literature has demonstrated that social motivation and social ability are contributors to the likelihood of social isolation and loneliness. We examined the effect of the above social factors on immune gene expression in socially-connected and -isolated individuals.

methodsRecruitment occurred via two online advertisements, one for socially isolated individuals and another for general research participants. Participants (n = 102) were separated into groups (isolated versus connected) based on which ad they responded to, and provided data on isolation, loneliness, social motivation, and social ability. The Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity (CTRA) stress gene regulation program was assessed with genome-wide transcriptional profiling.

resultsCTRA gene expression patterns were reversed between connected and isolated groups across several variables. Social isolation was associated with higher CTRA levels in the connected group, but lower levels in the isolated group. Social approach was associated with lower CTRA levels in the connected group, but higher in the isolated group, and the converse was true for social avoidance. CTRA levels were minimally affected by social ability measures.

conclusionPrior work on social isolation and loneliness has focused on loneliness and has identified many negative downstream health effects. In this study we demonstrate that objective social isolation may not be associated with the same negative downstream health effects, and in fact, social interaction may be more stressful than social isolation for some socially-isolated individuals.

Indexed as

Gene Expression RegulationLonelinessSocial IsolationStress, PsychologicalAdultFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedMotivationYoung AdultBrain immune connectionConserved transcriptional response to adversityLonelinessSocial isolationStress

Identifiers

PMID38897331
PMCPMC12668291

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.