The influence of cognitive-behavioral stress management, optimism, and coping on positive growth in women with breast cancer

There is evidence that some people experience positive growth, or positive contributions, resulting from traumatic events. This study examined the roles of cognitive-behavioral stress management (CBSM) intervention, coping, and dispositional optimism on the perception of positive contributions as a result of having had breast cancer. The sample was comprised of 125 women with Stages 0, 1 and 11 breast cancer who were randomized to either a 10-week CBSM group intervention or a control group that received a one-day seminar after the 10-week intervention had completed. The first assessment was completed approximately 4--10 weeks after breast cancer surgery and the second was completed at the end of the 10-week intervention.In general, the women in this study were found to endorse high levels of positive contributions, dispositional optimism, and adaptive coping. The CBSM intervention, however, did not influence perceptions of positive contributions. In addition, it was found that there were few differences between the intervention subjects and control subjects on measures of coping, either longitudinally or cross-sectionally. Differences between the two groups in coping suggested that intervention subjects tended to use less avoidant coping strategies, such as substance use and self-distraction. Optimism did not predict positive contributions cross-sectionally or longitudinally.Despite these null findings, there were associations between coping and positive contributions that provided insight into factors associated with positive growth. Women who endorsed using higher levels of acceptance, active coping, positive reframing, religious coping, planning, and use of friends for emotional support had significantly higher levels of positive contributions than women who had lower levels of these coping strategies and higher levels of self-distraction and substance use.Exploratory analyses also found a measure of emotional processing to be predictive of positive contributions. Specifically, the quality of examining one\u27s feelings was associated with positive growth cross-sectionally and longitudinally. As in the coping analyses, there were no significant differences between intervention subjects and control subjects on this variable.Overall, this research clearly shows associations between adaptive coping and positive growth. Future research should focus on how psychological interventions can enhance positive growth, how ethnic differences influence positive growth, and how group process variables are involved in perceptions of growth

Finding benefit in breast cancer: Relations with personality, coping, and concurrent well-being

Cancer patients experience positive as well as adverse consequences from cancer diagnosis and treatment. The work reported here was part of an effort to characterize the experiences of benefit finding in breast cancer patients. A sample of 230 early-stage breast cancer patients completed a set of benefit finding items in the year post-surgery. This measure was then related to measures of concurrent coping, several aspects of psychosocial well-being, demographic variables, and several other personality traits. Benefit finding related positively to trait optimism, and to positive reframing and religious activity as coping reactions. Benefit finding related inversely to emotional distress, but was relatively unrelated to other measures of well-being

Effects of stress management on testosterone levels in women with early-stage breast cancer

We examined the effects of a10-week, group-based cognitive-behavioral stressman-agement (CBSM) intervention on serum testosterone levels in women with Stage 1or 2 breast cancer. At 4 to 8 weeks postsurgery, participants were randomized to CBSM (n = 24) or to a wait-list control group (n = 10). Free and total testosterone was assessed via radioimmunoassay before and after the study period. The participants also completed a questionnaire assessing the degree to which living with breast cancer had led to social and emotional benefits in their life. We observed significant decreases in testosterone levels in the CBSM group and no change in the controls. Decreasesintes-tosterone were related to increases in positive contributions. These findings suggest that a short-term psychological intervention can help modulate androgen functioning, and these changes are related to enhanced benefit finding observed among women with breast cancer participating in CBSM

Cognitive–behavioral stress management increases benefit finding and immune function among women with early-stage breast cancer

This study examined the effect of a cognitive–behavioral stress management (CBSM) intervention on emotional well-being and immune function among women in the months following surgery for early-stage breast cancer. Twenty-nine women were randomly assigned to receive either a 10-week CBSM intervention ( n=18) or a comparison experience ( n=11). The primary psychological outcome measure was benefit finding. The primary immune function outcome measure was in vitro lymphocyte proliferative response to anti CD3. Women in the CBSM intervention reported greater perceptions of benefit from having breast cancer compared to the women in the comparison group. At 3-month follow-up, women in the CBSM group also had improved lymphocyte proliferation. Finally, increases in benefit finding after the 10-week intervention predicted increases in lymphocyte proliferation at the 3-month follow-up. A CBSM intervention for women with early-stage breast cancer facilitated positive emotional responses to their breast cancer experience in parallel with later improvement in cellular immune function

Statin-induced metabolic reprogramming in head and neck cancer: a biomarker for targeting monocarboxylate transporters

Abstract Prognosis of HPV negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients remains poor despite surgical and medical advances and inadequacy of predictive and prognostic biomarkers in this type of cancer highlights one of the challenges to successful therapy. Statins, widely used for the treatment of hyperlipidaemia, have been shown to possess anti-tumour effects which were partly attributed to their ability to interfere with metabolic pathways essential in the survival of cancer cells. Here, we have investigated the effect of statins on the metabolic modulation of HNSCC cancers with a vision to predict a personalised anticancer therapy. Although, treatment of tumour-bearing mice with simvastatin did not affect tumour growth, pre-treatment for 2 weeks prior to tumour injection, inhibited tumour growth resulting in strongly increased survival. This was associated with increased expression of the monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) and a significant reduction in tumour lactate content, suggesting a possible reliance of these tumours on oxidative phosphorylation for survival. Since MCT1 is responsible for the uptake of mitochondrial fuels into the cells, we reasoned that inhibiting it would be beneficial. Interestingly, combination of simvastatin with AZD3965 (MCT1 inhibitor) led to further tumour growth delay as compared to monotherapies, without signs of toxicity. In clinical biopsies, prediagnostic statin therapy was associated with a significantly higher MCT1 expression and was not of prognostic value following conventional chemo-radiotherapy. These findings provide a rationale to investigate the clinical effectiveness of MCT1 inhibition in patients with HNSCC who have been taking lipophilic statins prior to diagnosis