A team of researchers at the University of California tried to study the effect of stress on the length of telomeres, structures on the end of chromosomes in patients' cells. This structure has an important role in preventing mutations by protecting its chromosome from deteriorating, breaking apart or joining with other chromosomes.
During the study, scientists divided 31 women with cervical cancer in to two groups, one getting usual care and the other receiving six counseling sessions by phone in addition.
The findings showed that decreasing chronic stress associated with cancer diagnosis prevented shortening of telomeres.
"Women participating in our clinical study who experienced an improved quality of life and decreased stress response had an increase in telomere length in the circulating white blood cells," said lead author Dr. Edward Nelson.
It was previously known that telomeres shorten and deteriorate with aging, while the new study revealed that stress may have a similar effect, researchers reported at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
"It's important to remember that this was an exploratory and preliminary study," Nelson noted.
However, "there is no doubt that offering psychological services has the potential to improve quality of life and outcomes of patients. After all, making patients feel better should be an outcome that a cancer team should want to have, but whether we can draw conclusions or make recommendations about the capacity of a behavioral intervention to modulate telomere length remains an open question," he added.
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