While it has long been suspected that stress was a contributing factor in cancer development, U.S. medical scientists have now discovered the stress hormone epinephrine makes prostate and breast cancer cells resistant to cell death.

Researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine are the first to report that emotional stress contributes to the development of cancer and might also reduce the effectiveness of cancer treatments.

The study, led by Dr. George Kulik, an assistant professor of cancer biology, was designed to determine whether there is a direct link between stress hormones and changes in cancer cells.

"Population studies have had contradictory results," said Kulik. "We asked the question: 'If stress is linked to cancer, what is the cellular mechanism?’ There had [so far] been no evidence that stress directly changes cancer cells."

Kulik said the study's findings have several implications for patients and for researchers.

"It may be important for patients who have increased responses to stress to learn to manage the effects," said Kulik. "And, the results point to the possibility of developing an intervention to block the effects of epinephrine."

While not a part of the study, the findings suggest the wisdom in paying attention to one’s emotional health in order to prevent or help treat cancer. If you have stress in different areas of your life, try to eliminate or reduce those stressors wherever possible. The next step is to introduce more “serenity” into your life that can help “erase” stressful feelings. Some popular methods are meditation, yoga, prayer, exercise, courting an “attitude of gratitude”, a daily walk, close friendships with non-stressful personalities, and even letting go of angry feelings towards those who have hurt you in the past (aka forgiveness) has been shown to reduce stress levels in individuals. Regardless of the method of choice, most of us have long known that reducing stress in one’s life is a smart investment that yields longevity, health, financial stability and better relationships. Now there’s even solid research to prove it. Posted by Rebecca Sato

* This research can be found on-line in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

From: Daily Galaxy