Any comments about what is not clear, or what would make it more clear, is appreciated! Thanks, Laurie
Scientists have been able to predict the rhesus macaque’s rank within her group by the gene expression in her immune cells. The higher the rank, the better the health of the animal (not the other way around), and their findings contribute to understanding it, as well as the strong relationship between socioeconomic status and health in humans.
Researchers can determine macaques’ social rank by watching them engage in competitive actions, such as access to food and water and who receives grooming. They studied 10 groups of female macaques (five each) in which researchers could manipulate individuals’ social rank. Before being placed into new groups, all of the macaques started out as middle rank.
“In the wild, macaques inherit their social rank from their mothers.” “But in our research, the order of introduction determines rank; the newcomer is generally lower status. When some macaques’ status changed after a newcomer arrived, so did their patterns of immune system gene activity.”
The researchers used microarrays, a technology that allows them to scan thousands of genes and read the expression levels, to look at the macaques’ immune cells. The genes whose activity that changed the most depending on social rank were those involved in inflammation. Previous studies have found lower status macaques have higher levels of inflammation and have changes in their levels of hormones that indicate they’re under more stress.
Based on the pattern of gene activity, the researchers could, without looking at a monkey’s identity, predict whether that animal was high (rank 1 or 2), middle or low (rank 4 or 5) with 80 percent accuracy. The findings were published in 2012 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Steve Cole and others have shown similar genetic expression toward inflammation in lower status humans.
Tung J., Barreiro L. B., Johnson, Z. P., Hansen, K. D., Michopoulos, V., Toufexis, D., Michelini, K., Wilson, M. E. & Gilad, Y. (2012). Social environment is associated with gene regulatory variation in the rhesus macaque immune system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 109: 6490–6495.
Good basic facts.
And then there is the question, “For any social rank, what is the behavior and functioning of a better differentiated individual at that rank versus the behavior and functioning of a less differentiated individual of the same rank?
Laurie,
This piece and your article, The Emotional Side of Socioeconomic Status, in the recent issue of Family Systems addressing the connection between SES and stress are really helpful in understanding the complexity of the phenomenon of inequality. I have been working on understanding the interface between SES and LOD. You have a fine section in your paper on that subject.
This gets me thinking about the individuals in the one down position in the family and vulnerability to symptoms. Are other family members protecting their immune system by avoiding the one down position. There is so much to think about here – I so appreciate your work.
Fascinating. Rank drives health. I would like to see a section in the FS journal with short summaries that are this rich.
I think there is a lot of nuance in the effect of human rank. I recently asked a black friend in the south if he thought the being born black was an advantage of disadvantage to him. He said it was an advantage. He thinks many blacks are more free, in some senses.
I think the 2nd sentence runs on, and I’m not clear what “it” refers to in the middle area, rank or health or?
This is fascinating. It makes me think of recent articles about “weathering” that African Americans are subject to and its effects on individuals’ health, academic performance and other measures of well-being. I understand weathering to refer to daily manifestations, large and small, of race-based prejudice and discrimination, and the constant fear and wariness they produce.
I agree with Erik that the second sentence could do with some editing for clarity. Perhaps break it into two. Thanks for this and your work on social rank and health I find it helpful and think of it often.
Laurie: Just thinking about how relationship systems can influence gene expression in families and perhaps in all social groups. Thinking about how important it can be to study one’s functioning position in the family, when assessing any disease and its impact on an individual. This is quite exciting to think about ….what your work could contribute to broadening our understanding of disease. Does one have a better chance of recovery from a serious symptom if your social status shifts? This may be one of the many factors influencing vulnerability to a disease and possible recovery. Many thanks for your thinking on this.