Susan Lutgendorf on Impact of Minimal Support on Patients With Ovarian Cancer

Susan Lutgendorf, PhD, professor and Starch Faculty Fellow, Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Iowa, discusses the impact of lack of support on patients with ovarian cancer. Lutgendorf spoke on this during an interview at the SITC 31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs.

In a study, Lutgendorf explains that patients with ovarian cancer who have low levels of social support have been shown to have approximately 1 year shorter survival than patients with high levels of social support. This was found in models controlling for a variety of clinical factors, she adds.

In preclinical models, results have shown that mice subjected to restraint stress causes beta-adrenergic signaling and beta-adrenergic expression. This will likely demonstrate similar experimental changes in mice as in human patients, she explains. Additionally, this will increase the angiogenesis of tumors and tumor invasiveness.