Does informed adjuvant placebo chemotherapy for breast-cancer elicit immune changes
M Lekander1, C Furst, S Rotstein
1KAROLINSKA INST,DEPT CLIN NEUROSCI,STOCKHOLM,SWEDEN. KAROLINSKA HOSP,RADIUM HEMMET,DEPT GEN ONCOL,STOCKHOLM,SWEDEN. DANDERYD HOSP,DEPT GEN ONCOL,DANDERYD,SWEDEN. UPPSALA UNIV,DEPT CLIN PSYCHOL,UPPSALA,SWEDEN.
Abstract:
To study psychological effects on the immune system, a saline infusion was administered to 24 fully informed patients who previously had received adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer. Blood samples were drawn before and after treatment, and compared to samples obtained at home two days earlier. Patients displayed a rise in natural killer-cell activity and a tendency to lowered percentage of suppressor/cytotoxic cells when assessed before treatment as compared to at home. Trait anxiety was associated with numbers of leukocytes. It is concluded that immune status partly reflects psychological factors.
Related Concept Videos
Tumor Immunotherapy
Cancer Vaccines
Cancer vaccines come in two categories: preventive (prophylactic) and treatment (active). Preventive vaccines, such as the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, protect against viruses that cause certain...
Combination Therapies and Personalized Medicine
The combination of the drug acetazolamide and sulforaphane is a good example of combination therapy to treat cancer. The cells in the interior of a large tumor often die due to the hypoxic and...
Cytotoxic T Cells-mediated Immune Response
Immunological surveillance is the ability of immune cells to monitor and eliminate infected cells with intracellular pathogens, neoplastically transformed cells, and cells with non-self antigens. Cytotoxic T cells and NK...

