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Stress study raises issues
24/02/2008 13:31 - (SA)
New York - Among women with abnormalities
on a Pap test, those who report high levels of daily stress
appear to have a weakened immune response to a type of human
papillomavirus, HPV16, that can cause cervical cancer.
However, "It is premature to draw any conclusions regarding
the effects of stress on immune response to HPV16 and the
clinical implications of the observed association," emphasised
Dr Carolyn Y Fang, of the Fox Chase Cancer Centre, in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Fang and her colleagues report their findings in the Annals
of Behavioural Medicine.
Previous research reporting associations between stress and
cervical disease led Fang's team to look into stressful life
events and daily stress among 74 women undergoing colposcopy
for further evaluation after an abnormal Pap test.
Blood tests showed that over 55% of the women
harboured one or more HPV subtype, the investigators report.
The women with immune systems that did not respond to HPV16
by churning out more infection-fighting cells were more likely
to have an active HPV infection than the women whose immune
systems did respond to HPV16, the investigators report.
Furthermore, women reporting higher levels of perceived
stress were less likely to respond to HPV16.
Nonetheless, there's a big gap from that finding to an
assumption that the risk of cervical cancer is increased.
"This research is not saying that stress causes cervical
cancer or that feeling stressed out means that one will develop
cervical cancer," Fang made clear. "Our findings merely
represent one plausible biological pathway by which stress may
be associated with disease risk and progression."
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