An Ontology-Based Analysis of Health Disorders Derived from Stress-Evoked Peripheral Immune Responses

Chronic stress affects over 300 million individuals worldwide, contributing to a rising incidence of diseases associated with the peripheral immune response triggered by this condition, including depression, inflammatory bowel disease, metabolic syndrome, and coronary heart disease. To establish a structured understanding of these associations, an ontological approach based on Formal Concept Analysis, a mathematical framework for order relations is employed to construct a conceptual hierarchy linking chronic stress to these diseases. Within this framework, the objects represent the set of stress-induced diseases, while the attributes correspond to specific combinations of chemokines and cytokines clinically associated with each condition. The findings of the ontological analysis suggest that stress-related diseases follow a staged progression: an initial induction phase, common to all diseases, characterized by the presence of chemokines and cytokines that induce a state of chronic inflammation (inflammaging); a subsequent progression phase, marked by immune response effector molecules that may be shared across different diseases; and a final consolidation phase, in which specific chemo- and cytokines distinctive to each disease are expressed.