2024-02-24 21:05:46
A study carried out by researchers at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the United States shows for the first time evidence that chronic stress can worsen cancer and lead to metastasis.
The discovery, made from an experiment with laboratory rats with breast cancer, was published in the journal Cancer Cell, on Thursday (22/2).
“Stress is something we really can’t avoid in cancer patients. You can imagine that if you are diagnosed, you cannot stop thinking regarding the illness, the treatment or your family. Therefore, it is very important to understand how stress acts on us”, considers researcher Xue-Yan He, from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, in the work.
According to the study authors, chronic stress leads to the formation of “sticky networks” of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that helps the body fight infections and heal injuries. But in this case, the networks facilitate the invasion of cancer cells into tissues.
Influence of stress on cancer
The researchers separated the mice with breast cancer that had metastasized to the lungs into two groups. One of them was placed on a routine with stressful situations – such as flashes of light, loud music or food deprivation –, while the other continued under normal conditions.
Mice placed under stress showed greater tumor growth and up to a fourfold increase in metastases to the lungs than animals in the control group.
Stress also caused a reduction in the number of immune cells, such as T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, while also increasing the number of neutrophils that travel from the bloodstream and enter tumors.
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According to the study, corticosterone (stress hormone) led to the spread of cancer and caused lesions to form in the rats’ lungs.
“Stress reduction should be a component of cancer treatment and prevention,” says Professor Linda Van Aelst of Cold Spring Harbor Lab.
The authors of the experiment consider that, although the results seem to confirm that stress promotes cancer growth, they do not prove that living under stress is a risk factor for developing tumors.
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