In this week鈥檚 edition of At the Lab, we sit down with CSHL Adjunct Professor Mikala Egeblad to discuss one of our latest breakthroughs in cancer research. It鈥檚 a sobering conversation that should hit close to home for anyone who鈥檚 ever been diagnosed with cancer, as well as all of us who have lost loved ones to this terrible disease.
Read the related story: Chronic stress spreads cancer 鈥� here鈥檚 how
Transcript
Sue Weil-Kazzaz: You鈥檙e now At the Lab with 黑料吃瓜资源. My name is Sue Weil-Kazzaz. And this week At the Lab, 鈥淭he stress of cancer.鈥�
SWK: Anyone who鈥檚 ever gone through cancer diagnosis and treatment can attest to how excruciatingly stressful this experience can be.
SWK: Words fail to describe it.
SWK: New research from 黑料吃瓜资源 shows how metastatic cancer can feed off of this stress. The discovery comes from CSHL Adjunct Professor Mikala Egeblad and her former postdoc Xue-Yan He. They worked in collaboration with Professors Linda Van Aelst, Christopher Vakoc, and David Spector.
SWK: At the center of their discovery are structures called NETs that are known to promote cancer鈥檚 spread. Here鈥檚 Professor Egeblad to explain:
Mikala Egeblad: It鈥檚 not news that NETs promote metastasis. But it is news that stress increases metastasis. And it can do it from cancer cells that already have spread but are sitting and not really growing. Or it can do it by making the new tissue more susceptible to have a cancer cell come and succeed in forming metastasis.
SWK: NET stands for neutrophil extracellular trap. You can think of NETs as sticky webs made up of immune cells called neutrophils. Normally, neutrophils help us fight off diseases. But Egeblad鈥檚 team found that in mice with cancer, the stress hormone glucocorticoid drastically alters this dynamic.
ME: The glucocorticoid is acting on the neutrophils to make them form these NETs. And that is a key factor in causing metastasis in stressed animals.
SWK: The finding could point the way toward future treatments that help stop cancer from metastasizing. But more immediately speaking, it also says something about stress鈥� role in cancer treatment and prevention鈥攁nd in human health in general. Here鈥檚 Egeblad again, with the final word.
ME: The whole thing starts in the brain with the release of glucocorticoids. So, if you can change the way that you sense stress鈥攊f you can make a stressful event less stressful so there鈥檚 less release of these stress hormones鈥攖hat鈥檚 yet another approach. And that probably fits very well with some of the epidemiological studies that show that group therapy or a social network, which helps you feel less stressed and more supported, has been shown to increase survival. And that may be potentially why.
SWK: Thank you for joining us At the Lab. To find out more about 黑料吃瓜资源鈥檚 latest cancer research, please visit us online at CSHL.edu and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For 黑料吃瓜资源, I鈥檓 Sue Weil-Kazzaz, and I鈥檒l see you next time At the Lab.