Social Status and the Subsequent Impact of Gene Regulation

A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims that female monkeys' social status has an impact in what genes are "turned on and off" and subsequently expressed. Researchers claim that a female with a higher social status in a community of monkeys tends to express more healthy and beneficial genes and that gene expression can change when the social status of a female monkey declines. The researches are hypothesizing that low social status can be bad or unhealthy for the human body as well. Social status affects hormone levels, which can have secondary impacts on mortality risk and the success of offspring. Blood samples of female monkeys with lower social statuses revealed a higher exposure to chronic stress with more of a certain kind of  T cells present in the blood samples. Importantly, researches suggest that the changes aren't permanent and that individuals can regulate their stress by improving relationships and social status.http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2012/04/09/changes_in_monkeys_social_status_affect_their_genes.html