14 DAY TRIAL // A new study conducted by Vanderbilt University Medical Center experts on unsuspecting lab mice revealed that a natural stress-related effect can promote the spread of breast cancer to bone, leading to metastasis and death.
This discovery is very worrying, since it could very well apply to humans as well. The team focused its efforts on the body's innate fight-or-flight response, which is activated in response to stress stimuli.
During the same set of experiments, the research group inhibited sympathetic nervous system signals in the rodents' bodies. By doing so, the Vanderbilt team was able to prevent breast cancer cells from adhering to bone, PsychCentral reports.
If the same effect can be achieved in humans, it may soon become possible to develop a way of preventing breast cancer from spreading throughout the body.