"If your body
does not help cancer cells, they cannot spread as far. So really, the rest of
the cells in the body help cancer cells to move, to set up shop at distant
sites. And one of the unifying themes here is stress."
Study Shows How Our Own Bodies Help Turn Cancer Against Us
In an unexpected finding, scientists have linked the
activation of a stress gene in immune-system cells to the spread of breast
cancer to other parts of the body.
Researchers say the study suggests this gene, called ATF3,
may be the crucial link between stress and cancer, including the major cause of
cancer death – its spread, or metastasis. Previous public health studies have
shown that stress is a risk factor for cancer.