Chronic Stress Agitates Ovarian Cancer; Reducing Stress Slows Tumor Growth
When mice with ovarian cancer are stressed, their tumors grow and spread more quickly, but that effect can be blocked according to a preclinical study by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
The finding, published in the journal Nature Medicine, provides the first measurable link between psychological stress and the biological processes that make tumors grow and spread. Specifically, the researchers showed that stress hormones bind to receptors directly on tumor cells and, in turn, stimulate new blood vessel growth and other factors that lead to faster and more aggressive tumors.
“This study provides a new understanding of how chronic stress and stress factors drive tumor growth,” says Anil Sood, M.D., associate professor.
In fact, when the researchers blocked the stress hormone receptors in their experimental system they were able to stop the negative effects of stress on tumor growth.
The research began when Sood and his colleague Susan Lutgendorf found an association between ovarian cancer patients who reported high levels of stress in their lives and an increase in a factor that stimulates blood vessel growth in tumors. By contrast, patients who had more social support in their lives had lower levels of this factor. Sood wondered if hormones associated with chronic stress might affect how cancers grow.
Sood’s research team, led by investigators Premal Thaker, M.D., Liz Han, M.D., and Aparna Kamat, M.D., in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology, developed a mouse model of ovarian cancer to study the link. In their experiments, the researchers confined the mice in a small space for zero, two or six hours during the day.
The confinement caused the mice to produce the same stress hormones as humans produce when they are under stress. These beta adrenergic hormones are sometimes called the “fight-or-flight” hormones because they are released when people are fearful or threatened, and are also responsible for causing the heart to beat harder and faster.
Sood and his colleagues found that, surprisingly, cancer cells make receptors for these hormones on their surface and that when these receptors are activated they set in motion a chain of events that leads to formation of new blood vessels that feed tumors, a process called angiogenesis. New blood vessel formation is known to allow tumors to grow and spread more rapidly.
After three weeks, the researchers measured the number and size of tumors in the mice. The number of tumors was 2.5 times greater in the mice that had been in the 2-hour stress group and 3.6 times greater in the 6-hour stress group compared to the mice with no stress. In addition, tumor growth was confined in the no-stress mice, but had spread to the liver or spleen in half of the stressed mice.
In additional experiments, the researchers blocked the effect of stress hormones. This neutralized the effect of stress on tumor growth,” says Sood.
-University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Nature Medicine
Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on chronic stress agitates ovarian cancer. Reducing stress reduces tumor growth.
What was found in this study which was done on laboratory animals, mice, was that ovarian cancer when these animals were stressed the tumors grew and spread more quickly. When they reduced the stress the tumor growth stopped completely. Now let’s just understand what stress is. Again stress is as perceived whether physical or mental emotional; this stress causes the body to secrete adrenaline, which causes decreased blood supply in the digestive tract and decreased energy going into the immune system. Because the bodies in a fight or flight mode, more blood goes to the arms and legs and when this stress stays longer term, than a short term, the adrenal systems overtaxes the body, which causes a suppression of the immune system, which causes increased risk of all immune related types, cancer being the most important one. You can also increase auto immune disease, infections of the body all these things. So, when stress is increased, disease increases. When stress is decreased, disease is decreased. Very simple concept. Then the big question is how do we decrease stress? Well there is physical stress and there is mental emotional stress. So on a physical stress side, that is very easily decreased when we adopt the Seven Basic Steps to Total Health™:
1. Air–deep diaphragm breathing to oxygenate your body.
2. Water–drink 32 ounces of distilled water per 50/lbs per body weight per day.
3. Food–consume a diet of living/raw plant food which has the highest energy, bioelectricity, enzymes and bioavailable nutrient content to either maintain or restore your health.
4. Sleep–sleep 9.5 hours with 3.5 of them before midnight.
5. Exercise–exercise 30 minutes every day.
6. Fasting–fast from the normal Standard American Diet (SAD).
7. Prayer–take the time throughout your day to regularly still your mind so you can hear the voice of God spoken into your heart.
So when we live these 7 Basic Steps, our physical stress is decreased and so is our mental emotional stress. Remember the mental emotional stress comes primarily with how you view your life, how you see each incident in your life, if you see it negative or if you see is positive. If you see it as an opportunity to grow or see it as nothing more but something you want taken away because it is a stress to you. Always remember that muscles don’t grow without stress applied to the muscle in the form of a weight. The same thing applies to you. You will not grow physically or mentally emotionally or spiritually if there is not some weight applied to you. That weight is called stress. Stress studies have shown there’s two types of stress distress and eustress. So, other studies have shown that stress actually increases immune system response when this stress is not attached to a mental thought of hopelessness or not being able to get out of the situation. So, when we go into a stressful circumstance, the immune system can actually increase when we are not going to stay in this stress for long periods of time. The other problem is this stress will always suppress the immune systems, when we go into the stressful situation with a negative mind set or attitude.