While several studies in the past have claimed that there is a link between stress and cancer risk, researchers from Stanford University believe they are the first team to scientifically tie the personality trait of generalized anxiety or nervousness to cancer severity.
Like all of these studies, this one was done in mice. How do you tell a worrywort mouse from a calm, cool and collected one? According to lead author Firdaus Dhabhar, the determining factor is how a mouse balances the desire to explore space and find food or a mate, and the instinct to protect themselves from danger. Anxiety-ridden mice are more likely to be risk-averse and protect themselves, while non-anxious ones explore.
Once the team determined which of the mice were which, they dosed all of the mice with ultraviolet rays for 10 minutes at a time, three times weekly, for ten grueling weeks.
It's important to note that these are hairless mice and that the exposure to their skin is similar to what a human might receive if they spend too much time in the sun.
Within months of exposure, the mice began developing tumors--specifically, skin cancer, a kind that is vulnerable to the power of the immune system and can be killed by a healthy immune system.
The results: All the mice got skin cancer, but the anxious ones had on average more tumors and were the only ones of the two groups to develop invasive forms of the disease.
The anxious mice had higher levels of regulatory T cells as well, which are immune-suppressing cells that go to work to overcome unnecessarily major responses from the immune system.
Finally, the anxious mice had higher levels of the hormone corticosterine, released in stressful situations and long linked to cancer risk.
"It's bad enough that cancer diagnosis and treatment generates stress and anxiety, but this study shows that anxiety and stress can accelerate cancer progression, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle," said Dhabhar. "The goal is to ameliorate or eliminate the effects of anxiety and chronic stress, at least at the time of cancer diagnosis and during treatment."
Source: Medical News Today
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