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Stress Hormones Are Linked To Cancer

Stress Is Linked With Cancer

In a study performed at the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics at The Ohio State University Medical Center and published in the journal Cancer Research, scientific research shows that stress produces harmful hormones that play a significant role in proliferating the spread of cancer cells in the body.

Specifically, researchers identified that norepinephrine, a hormone produced during periods of stress, can stimulate tumor cells to produce two compounds (matrix metalloproteinases called MMP-2 and MMP-9) that collapse the tissue around the tumor cells and allow the cells to more easily move into the bloodstream. After which, the tumor cells can travel to other organs and tissues and form additional tumors, in a process called metastasis. (Once the process of metastasis has started, the patient’s prognosis is greatly altered and recovery is far more difficult.

In addition, norepinephrine may fuel the tumor cells to discharge a biochemical called vascular endothelial growth factor, which can assist in the growth of blood vessels that supply nutrients to the cancer cells.

While earlier work by researcher Anil Sood at the University of Texas had shown that the same stress hormones can stimulate ovarian tumor cells to produce these three compounds which foster cancer growth, this latest effort demonstrated that this lethal process occurred with other cancer cells.

How Stress Strengthens Cancer Cells

Additional research performed at Wake Forest University Health Sciences and published in the Journal. Biological. Chemistry has revealed that epinephrine (a powerful hormone produced by stress), alters prostate and breast cancer cells in ways that may render them resistant to cell death. (When cancer cells come in contact with epinephrine, it inactivates the protein BAD, which causes cellular death.)

The conclusions of this research is enormous because it appears that emotional stress can both aid the development of cancer and also diminish the success of cancer treatments.

Study Links Excess Cortisol With Earlier Deaths From Cancer

Research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has found a connection between cortisol levels in cancer patients and their survival rates. (Cortisol is the principal hormone stimulated by stress and is secreted by the adrenal glands.)

In the research, the salivary cortisol levels of 104 breast cancer patients were monitored four times daily for three consecutive days. The cortisol values were charted and their slope of daily variation was calculated. Patients with flat rhythms in their cortisol slope had lower Natural Killer (NK) cell counts, suppressed NK cell activity and earlier morality. In conclusion, the cortisol slope was an accurate predictor of the patient’s survival up to seven years later.

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Sources: Acute Stress Suppresses Pro-inflammatory Cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta Independent of a Catecholamine-driven Increase in IL-10 Production Journal of neuroimmunology 2005 Feb;159(1-2):119-28. Epub 2004 Dec 8 Autonomic, Neuroendocrine and Immune Responses to Psychological Stress: the Reactivity Hypothesis Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1998 May 1;840:664-73 Effects of Stress on Immune Cell Distribution: Dynamics and Hormonal Mechanisms The Journal of Immunology Vol 154, Issue 10 5511-5527

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