Originally published January 4 2006
New study suggests skin cancer may be more prevalent in people with high levels of stress
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Journal of the National Cancer Institute has published a study of mice that demonstrated high stress levels increased the risk of skin cancer.
That's what researchers report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
They exposed stressed and nonstressed mice to harmful UVB rays.
The stressed mice developed skin cancer more quickly and showed weaker immune systems.
"Our results show that a moderate chronic stressor, one that does not ...
change body and organ weights, can substantially increase susceptibility to cancer," write Firdaus Dhabhar, PhD, and colleagues.
Dhabhar works at Ohio State University in the Colleges of Medicine and Public Health, Dentistry, and the Institute of Behavioral Medicine Research.
Stress and sunlight are part of daily life for many people, the researchers write.
They add that both can be beneficial in moderation and harmful in excess over the long run.
To study stress, sunlight, and skin cancer, they first exposed hairless female mice to UVB light from sun lamps three times a week for 10 weeks.
Those mice were restrained in their cages for six hours daily for three weeks, roughly midway through the experiment.
The restrained mice were given adequate ventilation and their bodies were not compressed.
The stress was largely psychological, since mice don't like being confined, the researchers note.
Repeated exposure to UVB light prompted skin cancer in the mice, as expected.
The blood of those mice also had lower levels of the immune system's protective agents, such as T-cells and certain chemicals.
The genes that produce those protective chemicals were also suppressed in the stressed animals, according to the study.
The researchers write that stress may have hampered the mice's immune systems, increasing vulnerability to cancer-causing UVB exposure.
They call for more studies to check their results.
They say the findings are the first of their kind and could be important for other conditions affected by chronic stress.
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