Breast Cancer Patients With Abnormal Stress Hormone Levels are
More Likely to Die Sooner, Stanford Study Finds
[06/21/2000; Reuters News Service]
STANFORD, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--June 20, 2000--Women with advanced
breast cancer who have abnormal daytime levels of cortisol, a hormone
released in response to stress, are significantly more likely to die
sooner than patients with normal levels of the hormone, Stanford
researchers report in a newly published study. The researchers also
found that women with these abnormal cortisol levels had fewer immune
system cells known as natural killer cells, and this reduced immunity
was associated with higher mortality.
The study involved 104 San Francisco Bay Area women with metastatic
cancer, or disease that had spread beyond the breast. The researchers
extracted cortisol from the saliva of the volunteers, which was taken
at regular intervals during the course of three days. They then observed
the women's daytime rhythms as reflected in their cortisol levels,
which are generally high in the morning and then gradually decrease
to a low point in the evening, said David Spiegel, MD, professor of
psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School
of Medicine and principal investigator of the study. The researchers
found that some of the study volunteers had abnormal patterns of
cortisol secretion, with levels of the hormone that remained relatively
flat or peaked at abnormal times during the course of the day.
``We found that patients who had abnormal cortisol patterns died
significantly sooner,'' Spiegel said. ``There was no relationship in
the first year. It's only down the road that it occurs. It's as if
we're tapping into some physiologic system that is a marker for
rapid tumor growth.
The full article can be found at:
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000620/ca_stanfor_3.html
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