Scientists find why stress damages DNA

DURHAM, N.C., Aug. 22 (UPI) -- For years, studies showed chronic stress creates chromosomal damage and now U.S. researchers say they know why.

Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Duke University Medical Center, said in the study, mice were infused with an adrenaline-like compound that works through a receptor called the beta adrenergic receptor.

Lefkowitz, the senior author, and colleagues found this model of chronic stress triggered certain biological pathways that ultimately resulted in accumulation of DNA damage.

"This could give us a plausible explanation of how chronic stress may lead to a variety of human conditions and disorders, which range from merely cosmetic, like graying hair, to life-threatening disorders like malignancies," Lefkowitz said in a statement.

"The study showed that chronic stress leads to prolonged lowering of p53 levels -- a tumor suppressor protein and is considered a "guardian of the genome," one that prevents genomic abnormalities, Makoto Hara, a postdoctoral fellow in the Lefkowitz laboratory.

"We hypothesize that this is the reason for the chromosomal irregularities we found in these chronically stressed mice."

The study, published in the journal Nature, showed the infusion of an adrenaline-like compound for four weeks in the mice caused degradation of p53, which was present in lower levels over time.