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Updated: May 10, 2026

Exploring the Effects of Spaceflight on Mouse Physiology using the Open Access NASA GeneLab Platform
Published on: January 13, 2019
[Immunological aspects of a piloted mission to Mars]
The paper deals with the results of the effects of 520-day isolation and confinement modeling some elements of a mission to Mars on the immune system. Longitudinal analyses revealed that the mechanisms of adaptive response of the human immune system to the conditions of extremely long isolation led to a change of the parameters, characterizing innate and adaptive immunity. Among them the most important are: changes in the signaling PRRs--TLR, manifested in the reduction of the percentage of circulating monocytes and granulocytes expressed on its own surfaces TLR2, TLR4 and TLR6, decreases early NK cell activation potential, increases in the percentage T- and B-lymphocytes, that expressed early activation marker CD69 after adequate stimulation, and in production of cytokines in response to PHA stimulation. The active mobilization of the mechanisms of adaptive immunity, the implementation of the function of the level of immunity to a qualitatively different level, apparently, should be taken as a sign of adaptive adjustment of an organism in response to the complex influence of unfavorable factors, aimed at the preservation of immune homeostasis.
The paper deals with the results of the effects of 520-day isolation and confinement modeling some elements of a mission to Mars on the immune system. Longitudinal analyses revealed that the mechanisms of adaptive response of the human immune system to the conditions of extremely long isolation led to a change of the parameters, characterizing innate and adaptive immunity. Among them the most important are: changes in the signaling PRRs--TLR, manifested in the reduction of the percentage of circulating monocytes and granulocytes expressed on its own surfaces TLR2, TLR4 and TLR6, decreases early NK cell activation potential, increases in the percentage T- and B-lymphocytes, that expressed early activation marker CD69 after adequate stimulation, and in production of cytokines in response to PHA stimulation. The active mobilization of the mechanisms of adaptive immunity, the implementation of the function of the level of immunity to a qualitatively different level, apparently, should be taken as a sign of adaptive adjustment of an organism in response to the complex influence of unfavorable factors, aimed at the preservation of immune homeostasis.
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