Socialising can help fight cancer

Cancer patients who change their lifestyle to keep company with more people could see substantial improvements in their condition, the study suggests.

The findings challenge accepted wisdom that stress is damaging to health, indicating that a manageable level of stress can help the body fight disease.

However, many recent studies have shown that high stress levels make people more susceptible to cancer, and less likely to survive.

Geneticist Professor Matthew During said his findings published in the journal Cell offer powerful new evidence of the critical role that social connection and an individual’s mental state may play in cancer.

He said: ‘Animals’ interaction with the environment has a profound influence on the growth of cancer – more than we knew was possible.’

Cancer cells

Mice, naturally sociable creatures, are typically housed in groups of five or so for laboratory experiments, where they can have all the food they want and play all day.

But when those with tumours were placed in ‘enriched environments’ with 15 or 20 and provided with more space and more things to play with and do – including toys, hiding places and running wheels – their disease often went into spontaneous remission.

Tumor mass shrunk by an average 77 per cent and the volume by 43 per cent. And one in 20 of the cancer ridden mice remarkably showed no evidence of the disease after three weeks in their new home. That never happened in control animals kept in standard housing.

The animals did show lower levels of a hormone produced by fat called leptin, indicative of a significant shift in metabolism. Their immune systems also appeared to be ‘ramped up a bit’ which was traced by the researchers to a brain chemical known as BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor).

Manipulating the mice to produce increased levels of BDNF, which can be increased by exercise, also reduced their tumours, whereas the benefits of an enriched environment evaporated in those lacking the molecule – suggesting low levels of stress, or certain kinds of it, can be beneficial.

Prof. During said: ‘A lot of people think stress is bad, but our data show the animals aren’t just happy. Antidepressants won’t give you the same effect.’