Chronic stress accelerates ultraviolet-induced cutaneous carcinogenesis

Background Physical and emotional stressors have been found to mediate a wide variety of biological changes including the facilitation of tumor progression; however most of these paradigms utilized artificial sources of neoplasms and stress. Methods Skh mice were exposed to carcinogenic doses of ultraviolet light (UV). The stressed group was subjected to the close proximity of fox urine as a source of stress from the presence of the odor of their natural predator, while the control group remained stress free. Results A significant acceleration in the development of cutaneous neoplasms was observed in mice that had been exposed to the stressor. The first tumor appeared in the group after 8 weeks, whereas nonstressed mice began to develop these by week 21. Conclusion These results suggest that stress plays a role in potentiating cutaneous carcinogenesis.