New research in mice may pinpoint how chronic stress promotes the spread of cancer. Research has found evidence that stress can cause changes in certain immune cells, inadvertently making it easier for cancer cells to metastasize and invade other parts of the body. The findings highlight the need to manage stress after a cancer diagnosis and may even help in the search for new treatments, scientists say.
The research was led by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.Chronic stress has long been considered a risk factors Treats many health problems, including heart disease, headaches, and sleep problems.There’s some left Research Stress has been shown to increase cancer risk or worsen outcomes in people already diagnosed with cancer, although much of this link is still unclear. Because stress can make us more likely to engage in other unhealthy habits, such as drinking more alcohol, it may only indirectly increase our likelihood of developing cancer.
The study authors decided to see if they could detect clear biological changes in mice with cancer exposed to chronic stress. The mice developed cancer tumors in their breast tissue, and some of the cells were then transferred to the lungs, mimicking the metastasis process.
The researchers found that cancer in the lungs of stressed mice grew much faster than that of control mice. When they looked closer, they found evidence that stress hormones were affecting the behavior of neutrophils, immune cells that are one of the first lines of defense against infections and other body threats. Specifically, stress appears to induce the formation of spider web-like structures called NETs (neutrophil extracellular traps). NETs are typically used by neutrophils to engulf bacteria, but the team speculates that they may also somehow create a friendlier home for cancer cells to metastasize.
To test their hypothesis, the team conducted various experiments in which mice were either cleared of neutrophils, or NETs, or rendered completely unresponsive to stress hormones. In all these cases, they found that stress no longer acted as a promoter of cancer in mice, providing more evidence that neutrophils and their NETs are the key factors behind this link. They also found evidence that NETs can make lung tissue fertile ground for cancer, even in mice that don’t develop cancer.
“Our data suggest that glucocorticoids released during chronic stress lead to NET formation and establish a microenvironment that promotes metastasis,” the authors wrote in the paper. publish It was published Thursday in the journal Cancer Cell.
These findings must be confirmed by other studies, particularly in humans, before we can conclusively link neutrophils and NETs to crime scenes. And there may be other mechanisms involved by which stress contributes to the formation and spread of cancer. But the results do support the idea that managing stress is especially important for cancer patients. The researchers speculate that drugs that disrupt NETs may be safely developed in the future, thereby slowing or preventing the uncontrolled progression of cancer.
“Stress reduction should be an integral part of cancer treatment and prevention,” senior study author Mikala Egeblad said in an article. statement From Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.