Life events, cortisol and levels of prostate specific antigen: A story of synergism

GIDRON, Y; FABRE, B; GROSMAN, H; NOLAZCO, C; MESCH, V; MAZZA O; BERG G

Congreso; 16th World Congress on Advances in Oncology and 14th International Symposium on Molecular Medicine; 2010

Objectives: Psychosocial factors are independently related to the onset of lung cancer and to prognosis of multiple cancers. However, we are far from understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of such relations in depth and whether stress synergistically interacts with biological factors in relation to oncogenesis. This study tested whether life events (LE) interacted with cortisol, a major stress hormone, in relation to the tumor marker prostate specific antigen (PSA). Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design. N = 142 men underwent assessment of LE during the past 1-5 years and their levels of cortisol, PSA and other confounders were measured as well. Results: LE were unrelated to PSA in the total sample. However, LE did interact with cortisol in relation to PSA, such that LE were inversely related to PSA in patients with low cortisol (r = -.323, p = .005), while LE were positively related to PSA in patients with high cortisol (r = .362, p = .002), independent of age and body mass index. Conclusions: Stress and cortisol interact synergistically in relation to an important tumor marker of prostate cancer, namely PSA. This informs us that cortisol moderates the possible effects of psychosocial stress on cancer-related processes, and that both stress and cortisol need to be taken into account. We will offer some possible explanations for the observed pattern of results. Future studies must replicate these findings in a longitudinal design before its findings may be applied into practice.