Chronically lonely? Blame it on gene

19 September, 2007

It is fairly well-know that lonely people tend to die young and are very prone to sickness.

Now, a scientist has claimed to have found out the reason for loneliness – it is a gene in the body, which is responsible for the less effective immune system in chronically lonely people. If the result is confirmed, scientists may find a way to help lonely people who are at greater risk such as heart
disease, infection, age-related dementia, and certain types of cancer.

The study has been published in the latest issue of the journal Genome Biology.

Loneliness comes and goes in one’s life, but for some people it takes years to come out of loneliness – they feel lonely even if they are surrounded by people. It is also known that chronically lonely people are less healthy.

A study led by Steve Cole, a molecular biologist at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), the United States, observed 153 volunteers in their 50s and 60s and assessed them to the University of California, Los Angeles, Loneliness Scale (UCLA LS), and also a test that measures loneliness by their responses to certain questions.

The researchers then studied the white blood cells of 8 people who scored in the top 15th percentile of loneliness and 6 who were at the bottom 15th percentile.

After comparing 22,000 human genes, 209 genes were highly expressed in the group of loneliest people. Most of the genes were found to control immunity in an individual.

An interesting phenomenon was that genes that activate the immune system were overexpressed whereas those that regulate the production of anti-bodies and anti-viral factors were found to be underexpressed.

Earlier, cortisol hormone was suspected to play a role in isolated and lonely people. But, the new study explains why lonely people suffer from inflammation despite having greater amount of anti-inflammatory hormone cortisol.

This was the first study of its kind conducted on the molecular level to know what affects lonely people.

Steve Cole said: “What this study shows is that the biological impact of social isolation reaches down into some of our most basic internal processes – the activity of our genes.”

Cole said he hopes to change the patients’ life by administering anti-inflammatory drugs. “We can’t change them into the happy, laughing life of the party, but we can keep them out of the coffin,” he remarked.