Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jul;37(1):29134-29138.
doi: 10.26717/bjstr.2021.37.005953. Epub 2021 Jul 12.

Stress and Molecular Drivers for Cancer Progression: A Longstanding Hypothesis

J Wendel  1   2   3 , A Verma  4 , V Dhevan  5   6 , S C Chauhan  2   6 , M K Tripathi  2   3
Affiliations

Stress and Molecular Drivers for Cancer Progression: A Longstanding Hypothesis

J Wendel et al. Biomed J Sci Tech Res. 2021 Jul.

Abstract

Stress management is becoming very important part of cancer patient care. Chronic stressors lead to boost tumorigenesis and promote cancer development, recurrence, and drug resistant leading to poor health outcomes. The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, which is activated by stress, also regulates Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Thyroid (HPT) axis. Stress related changes in immune function and inflammatory response also leads to reduced immune surveillance resulting in tumorigenesis. This article explores the hormonal axis impacted by stress and how chronic stress can lead to poor outcome of a cancer patient.

Keywords: Cancer Progression; Cancer Recurrence; Drug Resistance; HPA Axis; HPT Axis; Stress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Schematic showing affects of stress hormones on different functions of body.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Stress hormones and cancer Note: Dysregulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) due to socio-behavioral stress axis leads to cancer development and progression and impact processes such as apoptosis, angiogenesis, cell survival inhibition, lymphangiogenesis, tumor growth and metastasis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Shafiei N, Gray M, Viau V, Floresco SB (2012) Acute stress induces selective alterations in cost/benefit decision-making. Neuropsychopharmacology: official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology 37: 2194–2209. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dai S, Mo Y, Wang Y, Xiang B, Liao Q, et al. (2020) Chronic Stress Promotes Cancer Development. Frontiers in oncology 10: 1492. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Moreno Smith M, Lutgendorf SK, Sood AK (2010) Impact of stress on cancer metastasis. Future oncology (London, England) 6(12): 1863–1881 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Djuric Z, Bird CE, Furumoto Dawson A, Rauscher GH, Ruffin MT, et al. (2008) Biomarkers of Psychological Stress in Health Disparities Research. The open biomarkers journal 1: 7–19. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rodriquez EJ, Kim EN, Sumner AE, Nápoles AM, Pérez Stable EJ (2019) Allostatic Load: Importance, Markers, and Score Determination in Minority and Disparity Populations. Journal of urban health: bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 96: 3–11. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources