Chronic Stress
Agitates Ovarian Cancer – Less Stress will Slow Tumor Growth in Mice
Study – Beta Blockers Help
July 24th 2006
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Unhealthy Stress |
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An interesting
study on mice has shown that stress can cause tumors to grow more
quickly, and the effect can be blocked by a medication commonly
prescribed for heart disease. Dr. Anil Sood said
"This study provides
a new understanding of how chronic stress and stress factors drive tumor
growth." Sood is an associate professor of gynecologic oncology and
cancer biology and director of ovarian cancer research.
When the researchers blocked the stress hormone receptors using the
heart disease drug propronolol (a beta-blocker) in the mice, they were
able to stop the negative effects of the stress on tumor growth. The
researchers chose beta blockers because the same hormone receptors,
called beta adrenergic receptors, are found in the heart and normally
work to maintain blood flow.
Sood and
Susan Lutgendorf
became
interested in this research when they noticed patients with ovarian
cancer reported high levels of stress in their lives. They say stress
increases the blood flow to tumors.
The research team
says that patients who had more social support in their lives had lower
“levels of this factor”. They speculated as to whether
hormones associated
with chronic stress might affect how cancers grow.
According to Hood,
“The concept
of stress hormone receptors directly driving cancer growth is very new.
Not much had been known about how often these receptors are expressed in
cancer, and more importantly, whether they had any functional
significance. Our research opens a new area of investigation."
He added “Beta blockers have been shown to be protective against cardiac
disease. No one has studied their effect on chronic stress as it relates
to cancer in humans. There is a lot of interest now in this area of
combining behavioral interventions to reduce stress, as well as using
beta blockers in cancer patients."
The research is published in by researchers at The University of Texas
M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in the journal Nature Medicine.
Marsha Quinn
Writer
Books on Cancer
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