ReviewAnnual review of immunology2012
Reflex principles of immunological homeostasis.
Review in Annual review of immunology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 203 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Essential Arterial Hypotension and Allostasis Registry
A Pilot Study to Evaluate Safety and Ability of the Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulator the Travagus One System to Decrease Inflammatory Mediators in Patients With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
Who cites it
203 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 404 citations in OpenAlex.
- Protective effect of exercise on animals with sepsis: a systematic review of the existing literature.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Pooled it
- Transcutaneous auricular branch vagal nerve stimulation as a non-invasive add-on therapeutic approach for pain in systemic sclerosis.RMD open · 2023Trial
- Transcutaneous Vagal Nerve Stimulation Alone or in Combination With Radiotherapy Stimulates Lung Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes But Fails to Suppress Tumor Growth.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Vagus nerve stimulation inhibits cytokine production and attenuates disease severity in rheumatoid arthritis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2016Trial
- Chronic vagal stimulation for the treatment of low ejection fraction heart failure: results of the NEural Cardiac TherApy foR Heart Failure (NECTAR-HF) randomized controlled trial.European heart journal · 2015Trial
- Cognitive factors mediate placebo responses in patients with house dust mite allergy.PloS one · 2013Trial
- The Role of the Nervous System in Lung Disease.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2026Review
- Vagal neuropathies: An underrecognized potential driver of physical, mental, and immune symptoms.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Review
- Postoperative neurocognitive disorder: migration and crosstalk of inflammation in the peripheral and central nervous system.Perioperative medicine (London, England) · 2026Review
- The role of the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in promoting M2 macrophage polarization at inflammatory sites.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Cholinergic regulation of neuroinflammation: linking microglia, immunometabolism, and neuromodulation.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Vagus nerve stimulation: anti-inflammatory effects in epilepsy.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Vagus nerve stimulation: An update of currently registered clinical trials on ClinicalTrials.gov.Surgical neurology international · 2026Review
- Improvement in facial seborrheic dermatitis following cervical transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation.JAAD case reports · 2025Article
- METTL3-mediated m6A modification in sepsis: current evidence and future perspectives.Epigenomics · 2025Review
- Vagotomy and the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis: a Danish register-based study.Arthritis research & therapy · 2025Article
- Staphylococcus Aureus Tames Nociceptive Neurons to Suppress Synovial Macrophage Responses for Sustained Infection in Septic Arthritis.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Spotting the clues: cluster of differentiation-a perspective of immune response intertwined with dysautonomia in colon cancer - a prospective cohort study.Journal of medicine and life · 2025Article
- Article
143 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The reasoning that neural reflexes maintain homeostasis in other body organs, and that the immune system is innervated, prompted a search for neural circuits that regulate innate and adaptive immunity. This elucidated the inflammatory reflex, a prototypical reflex circuit that maintains immunological homeostasis. Molecular products of infection or injury activate sensory neurons traveling to the brainstem in the vagus nerve. The arrival of these incoming signals generates action potentials that travel from the brainstem to the spleen and other organs. This culminates in T cell release of acetylcholine, which interacts with α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α7 nAChR) on immunocompetent cells to inhibit cytokine release in macrophages. Herein is reviewed the neurophysiological basis of reflexes that provide stability to the immune system, the neural- and receptor-dependent mechanisms, and the potential opportunities for developing novel therapeutic devices and drugs that target neural pathways to treat inflammatory diseases.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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 OpenQuestion graph.