title: A novel chronic stress-induced shift in the Th1 to Th2 response promotes colon cancer growth.
abstract: Epidemiological data have shown that stress and other psychological factors might influence cancer onset and progression. However, to date, the mechanisms are not well understood. In the present study, we used chronic exposure to a scream as a novel form of sound stress to explore the influence of the chronic stress burden on colon cancer progression, and changes in the immune system were observed. Chronic exposure to scream sound stress induced freezing behavior in the mice and decreased the bodyweight gain. It also caused changes in the adrenal gland and increased serum corticosterone and norepinephrine levels. Cytokine microarray analysis showed changes in the levels of Th1 and Th2 cytokines. The chronic scream sound stress caused a shift from the Th1 to the Th2 response both in the circulation and in tumor-infiltrated lymphocytes, and it promoted colon cancer progression significantly. Taken together, chronic scream sound stress can be conveniently used as a novel chronic stress model. Chronic stress contributes to colon cancer progression and induces a Th1/Th2 imbalance in the mouse immune system, which is considered critical during cancer progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Ni
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Lingyu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xiaoge
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Zongfang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Tusheng
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines
keywords: Chronic stress; Colon cancer; Th1 cytokine; Th2 cytokine