Every year nearly 70,000 people are diagnosed with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. To make matters worse, the stress of dealing with that diagnosis can make the cancer worse. But now, scientists may have found a way to change that by using a drug normally used for high blood pressure.
Dick Bill is grateful to be spending precious moments with his grandkids. After a lifetime of sun exposure, Dick had a life altering bout with melanoma.
"I changed my whole lifestyle, because I think I got a second chance. I got a wakeup call," he said. "I quit smoking, I quit drinking, I started exercising."
By making those changes, Dick has lowered his stress level considerably, which could help keep his cancer in check.
"Studies have shown that psychological stress affects the immune system, and in that way, that's the mechanism by which cancers are able to progress," said Dr. Eric Yang, Ohio State University - James Cancer Hospital.
In the lab, Ohio State university researchers added human stress hormones to tumors and saw the number of cancerous proteins increase by nearly 2,000 percent. The more stress hormones, the more likely the cancer cells are to grow.
Then they tried a novel approach using common drugs called beta blockers; they reversed that process. Beta blockers kept stress hormones away and kept tumors from growing. Best of all, they are drugs that have already been in use some 30 years to lower blood pressure.
"It's a common drug. It's not toxic, people take blood pressure medication all the time. That's exactly what people take - we take beta blockers if you have high blood pressure and it's perfectly innocuous," said Dr. Ronald Glaser, James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.
That could help speed up human trials. In the meantime the more that patients like Dick work to decrease their stress, the more they might increase their odds of beating melanoma.
Researchers say other cancers may show a similar response to beta blockers.
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