Anxious mice get more serious cancer than their calmer counterparts, according to a new study that could have implications for human cancer treatments.
The research revealed that mice with anxious "personalities" — meaning animals that were more hesitant to explore potentially dangerous areas — are prone to more invasive skin cancers than coolheaded rodents. The culprit may be the damage stress does to the immune system, which can sometimes fight off these types of cancers.
"It's bad enough that cancer diagnosis and treatment generates stress and anxiety, but this study shows that anxiety and stress can accelerate cancer progression, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle," study researcher Firdaus Dhabhar, a psychiatrist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, said in a statement.
"The goal is to ameliorate or eliminate the effects of anxiety and chronic stress, at least at the time of cancer diagnosis and during treatment," Dhabhar added.
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