University of California Los Angeles, California
Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences David Geffen School of Medicine Director UCLA Social Genomics Core Laboratory
Studying the biological pathways that link psychological stress and breast cancer outcomes, with a focus on the nervous and immune systems.
Patients who have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer experience many forms of stress including psychological stress which can activate the immune response and cause inflammation—this negatively impacts breast cancer outcomes. Compelling evidence has emerged that indicates that the immune response and inflammation play a role in tumor initiation, progression, and metastatic spread. Drs. Bower and Cole are focusing on the role of the nervous and immune systems in translating stress from brain to body. These studies aim to define new “positive neurobiology” pathways that can be translated into clinical interventions. Through this work, they hope to establish new paradigms for blocking stress in order to promote both the quality and potentially the length of breast cancer survivorship.
Drs. Bower and Cole are conducting several interrelated lines of research into the association between psychosocial stressors and tumor characteristics in women with early-stage breast cancer. This includes examination of neural processes that link chronic stress and inflammatory processes relevant for tumor progression, as well as intervention studies to reduce stress and identify neuroendocrine pathways that impact tumor biology. Their recent findings that stress-induced changes in tumor biology can be blocked by stimulating the brain’s reward system led them to establish a laboratory model system to test how stimulation impacts breast cancer growth and metastasis. In addition, they have developed and optimized an online version of their mindfulness-based intervention for breast cancer survivors. They have demonstrated that this intervention is effective in reducing depression, enhancing well-being, and improving tumor-relevant immune processes in younger breast cancer survivors.
The team has begun development of a new digital intervention for breast cancer survivors that will target positive psychological states. In the coming year, they will expand the use of this novel digital approach for delivering behavioral interventions to more effectively reach a broad and diverse range of women with breast cancer. In addition to this clinical work, Drs. Bower and Cole are developing and evaluating a new laboratory model system to test how activation of the brain’s reward system affects breast cancer growth and metastasis. These studies will ultimately help to refine clinical interventions that have the potential to enhance psychological well-being in breast cancer patients. Both lines of research are designed to establish new parameters for blocking the stress effect in the context of human breast cancer.
Steven W. Cole, PhD is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology-Oncology at the UCLA School of Medicine. His research maps the molecular pathways by which social and environmental factors influence the activity of human, viral, and tumor genomes. He pioneered the use of functional genomics approaches in social and behavioral research and has mapped the signal transduction pathways by which social factors enhance replication of viruses (e.g., HIV-1 and HHV-8), alter expression of immune response genes (e.g., IL-6 and Interferon-beta), and up-regulate expression of pro-metastatic genes by human breast and ovarian cancer cells. His research uses computational modeling strategies to identify transcription factors that mediate socio-environmental influences on gene expression and genetic polymorphisms that modify those effects to create Gene x Environment interactions. Dr. Cole is member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Norman Cousins Center, the UCLA Molecular Biology Institute, and the NCI Network on Biobehavioral Pathways in Cancer, and he holds a joint appointment in UCLA’s Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences.
2011
The Play for P.I.N.K. Award/The Estée Lauder Companies' Breast Cancer Campaign Award
University of California, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Los Angeles, California
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