How chronic stress exacerbates cancer

Having cancer is stressful enough without the knowledge that stress itself promotes tumor growth. But Premal Thaker, Liz Han, Aparna Kamat, Anil Sood (University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX), and colleagues have found just that: human ovarian carcinoma cells injected into mice form tumors that grow more when the mice are exposed to chronic stress. Drugs that block stress responses may therefore be appropriate for certain cancer patients.

Humans and mice have two major responses to stress. The adrenal gland responds by producing glucocorticoids, and the sympathetic nervous system by producing catecholamines, which bind to the β adrenergic receptors ADRB1 and ADRB2. The Texan group identified a pathway leading from ADRB2 to protein kinase A (PKA) and the production of...