Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:1382-1386
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
Natural killer cell activity and MMPI scores of a cohort of college students
JS Heisel, SE Locke, LJ Kraus and RM Williams
Natural killer (NK) cells are important in immune function and appear, in
part, to be regulated by the CNS. The authors compared NK cell activity and
MMPI scores of 111 healthy college students and found weak but
statistically significant correlations between NK values and
psychopathology for 10 of 12 scales. Students with the highest NK values
had a "healthier" MMPI profile than those with the lowest. Students with
high MMPI scores (T greater than 70) had NK values below the sample median.
These findings support theories of interaction between mental state and
immune status, but the mechanisms and direction of interaction remain
largely unexplored.
