Counseling improves immune system

Regular psychological counseling for breast cancer patients may do more than just lower their stress and anxiety. A study from Ohio State University's Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, maintains that the right type of intervention also can mean healthier diets, reduced smoking, and a stronger immune system. "We were so surprised with the findings about immunity that we repeated the tests over and over again as more patients entered the trial," explains Barbara Andersen, a professor of psychology and lead investigator in the study.

Ten years ago, Andersen and her colleagues began examining women with stage II or III breast cancer to find out if reducing stress and changing health habits have any impact on the incidence and timing of recurrence. Researchers maintain that the data clearly show that intervention offers powerful psychological, behavioral, and biological benefits for patients.

Patients met weekly in small-group sessions to learn ways to lower stress, improve their mood, modify key health behaviors, and follow treatment plans. Researchers reassessed them four months later. They also examined two key markers of the patients' immune systems, the activity of natural killer (NK) cells and the capacity of certain T-cells to grow and multiply. T-cells and NK cells are critical to the body's immune system--they help identity and destroy infectious or mutated cells that might lead to cancer and other diseases.

After controlling for all other variables, no significant change was found in the number of T-cell or NK cells present. Women, though, displayed a stable or improved T-cell proliferative capacity. "These findings are important because there has only been one other study linking stress reduction and changes in immunity," states William Carson, associate professor of medicine and molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics. "It found no changes in the immune system at the end of the intervention, but it did find changes six months later. Given the strength of our results and the fact that they are consistent with other improvements, we simply have to do more to fully understand what is going on."

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