A little stress can do us good—it pushes us to compete and innovate. But
chronic stress can increase the risk of diseases such as depression, heart
disease and even cancer. Studies have shown that stress
might promote cancer indirectly by weakening the immune system's
anti-tumor defense or by encouraging new tumor-feeding blood vessels to
form. But a new study published April 12 in The Journal of Clinical
Investigation shows that stress hormones, such as adrenaline,
can directly support tumor growth and spread.
For normal cells to thrive in the body, "they need to be attached to
their neighbors and their surroundings," says the study's lead author
Anil Sood from The University of Texas M. D, Anderson Cancer
Center in Houston. Cells that detach from their environment undergo a
form of programmed cell
death called anoikis. "But cancer cells have come up with way to
bypass this effect—they avoid anoikis," Sood says. This allows cancer
cells to break off from tumors, spread throughout the body (in blood or
other fluid) and form new tumors at distant sites—a process called
metastasis. So Sood wondered: Could stress affect anoikis? "It surprised
us that this biology hadn't been studied before," he notes. "Stress
influences so many normal physiological processes. Why wouldn't it be
involved in tumor progression?"
To read the full, original article click on this link: Does Stress Feed Cancer?: Scientific American
Author: Katie Moisse
