Changes in neurohumoral factors of various tissues in patients with breast cancer

Such neurohumoral factors of antitumor resistance regulation as catecholamines, corticosteroids and cholinergic mechanisms were studied in tissues of breast cancer patients. Tissue adjacent to tumor revealed elevated concentrations of 11-hydroxycorticosteroids and adrenaline matched by an increased release of norepinephrine which greatly depended on weakened cholinergic influences. These disturbances were pronounced in stages I and II tumors and, particularly, in infiltrating scirrhous cancer. Disbalance in neurohumoral factor distribution between normal and altered tissues may boost tumor recurrence and metastatic spread.