The study conducted among 38 breast cancer patients and 34 colon cancer patients included a short, simple and safe drug treatment, which resulted in a significant reduction in the body's trauma responses that accelerate the spread of metastases.
A short, simple and safe drug treatment reduced risk factors for the spread of cancer metastases after surgery to remove the primary tumor - this is shown by the first clinical studies conducted among 38 breast cancer patients and 34 colon cancer patients at the Sheba, Rabin and Kaplan medical centers.
The clinical research was led by Prof. Shamgar Ben-Eliyahu from the School of Psychological Sciences and the Segol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University and researchers from the University School of Medicine: Prof. Oded Zamora and Prof. Moshe Shabtai, Sheba Medical Center, Dr. Eran Sharon and Dr. Judith Birnbaum, Rabin Medical Center and Dr. Tanir Alweis, Kaplan Medical Center.
The results of the study were recently published in the medical journal Clinical Cancer Research and presented at medical conferences.
The researchers tried to deal with the difficult data indicating that, after the surgery to remove the primary tumor, which is the mainstay of all cancer treatments, the risk of metastases is about 15% among breast cancer patients, about 20-40% among colon cancer patients , and it may even reach 96% among pancreatic cancer patients.
"When the body is in a state of stress, physiological or psychological, hormones from the prostaglandin and catecholamine families are secreted in large quantities," explains Prof. Ben-Eliyahu. "These hormones suppress the activity of the cells of the immune system and thus indirectly encourage the development of cancer metastases. In addition, these hormones directly help the cancer cells that remain in the body after surgery to create and develop into life-threatening metastases. Thus, due to the exposure to these hormones, the cancerous tissues in the body become more aggressive and metastatic."
In preliminary animal studies conducted during the last two decades at Tel Aviv University, Prof. Shamgar Ben-Eliyahu and his students showed that the surgery and the physiological reactions that accompany it increase the chances of the development of metastatic cancer, and that with the help of a combination of existing drugs, metastatic processes can be reduced. The study indicated a significant decrease in the number of animals that developed metastatic disease after the removal of the primary cancerous tumor. This treatment has been tested in recent years among women and men with cancer.
Drugs that prevent the effects of stress hormones and inflammation have reduced the potential for metastatic spread
As part of clinical trials, the researchers gave breast cancer patients two well-known and safe drugs: propranolol (Darlin), a drug to lower blood pressure and reduce anxiety, and etodolac (Etopan), which is used to prevent pain and inflammation. The patients took the drugs for only 11 days - from five days before to five days after the surgery - while half of them received placebo drugs as a control group.
"The drugs turned the tumor from a pro-metastatic tumor into a tumor with reduced metastatic potential, according to molecular markers in the cancer cells," says Prof. Ben-Eliyahu. "Also, the drugs changed for the better the amount and type of leukocytes (white blood cells) of the patient in the tumor - indicators that also predict a lower chance of cancer recurrence. In addition to the removed tumor sample, we tested another ten biological markers, biomarkers, in blood tests before and after surgery, when the results were statistically significant and indicated anti-metastatic physiological changes. Among other things, the drug treatment lowered the levels of IL-50 (hormone of the immune system), CRP (inflammatory protein) and EMT (biological molecular marker in the cancerous tissue) by nearly 6% - all markers predicting metastatic processes.
"Actually, one of the interesting and important results we received from this preliminary study is that reactions of stress and inflammation that the body develops even before the surgery itself probably lead to pro-metastatic changes that occur in the tumor. It seems that the anxiety and the endocrine reactions that accompany it during the waiting period for surgery can have a negative effect on the tumor and the physical parameters of the patient. In a similar study that we just completed in colon cancer patients (the results of which we published at medical conferences) we got similar results. It is important to note that both studies also found a high safety profile for the drug treatment.
Despite these findings, Prof. Ben-Eliyahu points out that part of the medical establishment mistrusts the effects of stress reactions, and in particular those resulting from psychological factors, such as waiting for surgery or the fear of the spread of the disease on the cancer itself. "There are clear biological indicators that indicate the spread of cancer as a result of the body's stress and inflammation reactions, at least in animal studies, but there is still no awareness of the importance of psychological effects on the progression of the disease in humans," he says
According to him, following the successful initial study, in the future the researchers intend to conduct a study that will reduce the stress reactions before surgery by means of behavioral-psychological intervention, possibly even without the use of drugs."
Prof. Ben Eliyahu also points out that while the clinical studies were conducted on breast and bowel cancer patients, in previous studies conducted on animals, it was found that reducing the risk of spreading metastases after surgery is not exclusive to this or that type of cancer.
According to him, most of the existing anti-cancer drugs are consumed by the patient for the rest of his life. Also, most of the new drugs on the market do not save lives but prolong life - a noble goal in itself. "With the treatment we are researching, we aim to increase the percentage of patients whose cancer will not return, thereby saving lives."
"Following the successful initial study, we intend to conduct in the next phase a broad clinical study among 600 patients with bowel cancer, and later also a clinical study among 200 patients with pancreatic cancer, but for this we will have to raise at least one million dollars, Prof. Ben Eliyahu points out, "We need to understand that the pharmaceutical companies do not have A financial incentive to support such studies, because the drugs we used are drugs without a patent, they are safe, cheap and can be given in a short treatment of a few days".
16 תגובות
my father
In theory you might be right. But those who publish revolutionary research are published, and those who publish meta-research are usually organizations (like Cochrane) that are considered very reliable and without "malicious" goals.
Note that there is no debate that mental stress has an effect on the spread of cancer. But - there is also no real argument that mental stress does not cause cancer.
More miracles:
Regarding the meta-analysis and your surprise that in a single study they found A and in the meta-analysis they found B.
In general, this is generally someone who collected results from studies he chose in order to prove something.
It is quite easy to bias the results of meta-analyses by selectively choosing one or another studies and thus also prove the exact opposite.
Therefore, a meta-analysis is not necessarily more reliable than a single study, especially on such a complex subject.
And for miracles:
Regarding the meta-analysis and your surprise that in a single study they found A and in the meta-analysis they found B.
In general, this is generally someone who collected results from studies he chose in order to prove something.
It is quite easy to bias the results of meta-analyses by selectively choosing one or another studies and thus also prove the exact opposite.
Therefore, a meta-analysis is not necessarily more reliable than a single study, especially on such a complex subject.
for miracles
I just wanted to emphasize the point that there is probably some kind of connection despite different conclusions I have read recently.
The example I gave was just to illustrate the intent of what I wrote.
I don't have time to bother looking for links.
C.L. "her influence" of course
The effect of stress on the immune system is well known. The effect of the immune system on cancer is also known.
my father
This is not how clinical trials are conducted. What you describe (Syria and Australia) could be an interesting observation that will lead to clinical research.
And no meta-analysis will include "such a study".
And again - when you start a sentence with "it is known that" - there is nothing to refer to the rest of the sentence. is necessarily incorrect.
You have to differentiate between getting cancer and its spread in the body. Studies do not show that mental stress has an effect on the onset of cancer. Studies do show that stress has an effect on the spread of cancer in the body.
Now notice the trick: I'm not saying "it is known that"... I'm bringing a link to a reliable meta-study:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3037818/pdf/nihms-269073.pdf
for miracles -
In biological experiments there are a lot of variables and it is not as simple as flipping a coin
for example:
If you take a very large population like all the residents of Syria - and check during the war how many people there developed cancer (all types of cancer).
Compare it to the (relaxed) inhabitants of Australia at that time.
Of course, all kinds of other side effects are offset, such as the hole in the ozone in Australia, and the effect of hummus tahini and olive oil in Syria, etc.
Suppose we find out that there are no more cancer cases in Syrians than in Australians.
From this we conclude that there is no significant effect of mental stress on cancer.
On the other hand, as in the above article, it is discovered that there is a mechanism that after breast cancer surgery, the metastases that remain are affected by mental stress...
This was not tested in the first experiment because there was a test of all types of cancer, not specifically breast cancer, nor specifically an effect on metastases after surgery, so if there is such an effect only on breast cancer and only on metastases after surgery, then the statistics made on the large populations mask the It .
Of course I don't remember exactly what the indices were in the meta-analysis and I'm not saying that in this case that's exactly what happened.
In any case, it is known that the subject is still controversial and many doctors believe that mental stress does have an effect.
Miracles you stutter 🙂
Amir, I really agree. In my opinion, the study should generally be started five days before the onset of the disease and not as the researchers did - who chose the easy way.
And a little more seriously. It is interesting how much effort needs to be invested to obtain research budgets to research and publish studies that will not generate profit for someone (university and/or rich companies)
I wouldn't be surprised if the mental stress caused the cancer in the first place, or at least contributed to its growth.
Maybe antidepressants reduce the risk of getting cancer?
Is it possible to find a positive correlation between mental stress and cancer incidence?
my father
I just tossed a coin. I got a "Pelli". So you claim that everyone who flips a coin will get a "fli" for the first time...
Interesting 🙂
And really you are right!! If we do a meta-analysis we will find that this is not true!
my father
I just tossed a coin. I got a "Pelli". So you claim that everyone who flips a coin will get a "fli" for the first time...
Interesting 🙂
And really you are right!! If we do a meta-analysis we will find that this is not true!
Sometimes when testing a specific mechanism, they find a relationship that is not seen in a statistical test of large populations.
It is possible that stress does not cause cancer to start, i.e. primary growth, but affects metastases as seen in the current study.
The very fact that mental stress affects such a mechanism, one way or another, is what is interesting here.
my father
You point out that a meta-analysis shows no link between stress and cancer. Then, a small study on a few dozen patients shows that there may be a connection...
And from this you conclude that there is a connection!!
Be healthy to me 🙂
Of course there is a connection. Ask any patient or one who has gone through this and this is what they will say.
There is also a direct relationship between mental stress and longevity.
This proves that there is a link between mental stress and cancer.
Something that was suspected years ago
Some time ago I read a meta-analysis (a review of a large number of studies and drawing statistical conclusions from their summary) which showed that there is no such relationship.
It also shows that conclusions from scientific studies, especially such statistics conducted on large populations, can be reversed here and there.