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Biological Timekeeping: Clocks, Rhythms and Behaviour pp 459–480Cite as

Circadian Clocks and Immune Functions

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Abstract

In mammals, circadian rhythms modulate many physiological processes, including the immune system. This system is divided into two interconnected arms, the innate and the adaptive immune systems. Immunocompetent cells, such as macrophages, natural killer cells, and lymphocytes, have a functional circadian clock. Indeed, daily variations are observed in numbers of circulating cells, as well as in their capacity to secrete cytolytic factors and cytokines. The daily variation is also observed, for example, in lymphocyte expansion after immunization with an antigen across the day and in effector functions against the antigen. In this chapter, we review the current knowledge of circadian rhythms in the immune system, from the first line of immune defense (the innate immune response) to the pathogen-specific control of infections (the adaptive immune response). We end with some examples of immune pathologies influenced by the circadian system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montréal, QC, H4H 1R3, Canada

    Chloé C. Nobis, Silke Kiessling & Nicolas Cermakian

  2. Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital Research Center, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, H1T 2M4, Canada

    Chloé C. Nobis & Nathalie Labrecque

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  1. Chloé C. Nobis
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Correspondence to Nicolas Cermakian .

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  1. Department of Zoology, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

    Vinod Kumar

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Nobis, C.C., Kiessling, S., Labrecque, N., Cermakian, N. (2017). Circadian Clocks and Immune Functions. In: Kumar, V. (eds) Biological Timekeeping: Clocks, Rhythms and Behaviour. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-3688-7_22

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