Summary: Researchers have identified a direct cellular interaction between the nervous system and the immune system. Pain sensing neurons around the lymph nodes can modulate lymph node activity.

Source: Broad Institute.

The nervous and immune systems have long been thought to be separate entities in the body, but new research has uncovered a direct cellular interaction between the two. Scientists from Harvard Medical School, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, MIT, and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard have found that pain-sensing neurons surround lymph nodes in mice, and can modulate the activity of these small organs, which are key parts of the immune system.