Stress hormone boosts tumor growth

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The stress hormone norepinephrine appears to promote the biochemical signals that stimulate certain tumor cells to grow and spread, a U.S. study found.

First author Eric Yang of Ohio State University in Columbus said that if the cell culture findings are verified it may suggest a new way of slowing the progression and spread of some cancers so that conventional chemotherapeutic treatments would have a better chance to work.

Yang and colleague Ron Glaser, also at Ohio State University, focused on three multiple myeloma tumor cell lines, each representing a different stage in the life of the disease. They found all three tumor cell lines reacted to the presence of norepinephrine, only one, a cell line known as FLAM-76, responded strongly to the hormone.

The study found norepinephrine binds to receptors on the surface of the cells, sending a signal to the nucleus to produce a compound known as VEGF -- vascular endothelial growth factor -- key to the formation of new blood vessels, which tumors need to grow.

"This approach wouldn't kill the tumor cells but it would diminish the blood supply to the tumor cells and slow them down, and that could translate into a longer and better quality of life for the patient," Glaser said in a statement.

The findings are published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity.