Reed Rebecca G, Weihs Karen L, Sbarra David A, Breen Elizabeth C, Irwin Michael R, Butler Emily A
Division of Family Studies and Human Development, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA; Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
Brain Behav Immun. 2016 Aug;56:165-74. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2016.02.018. Epub 2016 Feb 23.
Breast cancer diagnosis and treatment are associated with increased inflammatory activity, which can induce sickness symptoms. We examined whether emotional acceptance moderates the association between proinflammatory cytokines and self-reported sickness symptoms in women recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
Women (N=136) diagnosed with stage 0-III breast cancer within the previous 6months provided plasma samples and completed the FACT: Physical Well-Being Scale, as well as the Acceptance of Emotion Scale every 3months for 2years. At each time point, we quantified interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α using a high sensitivity multiplex assay.
Higher within-subject mean TNF-α across all time-points predicted higher mean sickness symptoms. At individual time-points, higher IL-6 and IL-8 levels were associated with higher sickness symptoms. Mean emotional acceptance across all time-points moderated the relationship between mean IL-8 and sickness symptoms, with sickness symptoms remaining persistently high in women with low emotional acceptance even when IL-8 levels were low. At individual time-points, emotional acceptance positively moderated the correlations of IL-8 and TNF-α with sickness symptoms, such that the associations between higher levels of these proinflammatory cytokines and higher sickness symptoms were attenuated when emotional acceptance was high.
Emotional acceptance was shown for the first time to moderate the associations of cytokines with sickness symptoms in breast cancer patients over time following diagnosis and treatment. The association between emotional acceptance and sickness symptoms was significantly different from zero but relatively small in comparison to the range of sickness symptoms. Results suggest that targeting emotion regulation may help to break the cycle between inflammation and sickness symptoms in women with breast cancer.
乳腺癌的诊断和治疗与炎症活动增加有关，炎症活动会引发疾病症状。我们研究了情绪接纳是否会调节近期被诊断为乳腺癌的女性体内促炎细胞因子与自我报告的疾病症状之间的关联。
在过去6个月内被诊断为0-III期乳腺癌的女性（N=136）提供血浆样本，并每3个月完成一次FACT：身体健康量表以及情绪接纳量表，为期2年。在每个时间点，我们使用高灵敏度多重检测法对白细胞介素（IL）-6、IL-8、IL-10和肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）-α进行定量。
所有时间点内受试者平均TNF-α水平较高预示着平均疾病症状较高。在各个时间点，较高的IL-6和IL-8水平与较高的疾病症状相关。所有时间点的平均情绪接纳调节了平均IL-8与疾病症状之间的关系，即使IL-8水平较低，情绪接纳度低的女性的疾病症状仍持续较高。在各个时间点，情绪接纳正向调节IL-8和TNF-α与疾病症状的相关性，因此当情绪接纳度较高时，这些促炎细胞因子水平升高与较高疾病症状之间的关联会减弱。
首次表明情绪接纳会在乳腺癌患者诊断和治疗后的一段时间内调节细胞因子与疾病症状之间的关联。情绪接纳与疾病症状之间的关联显著不同于零，但与疾病症状范围相比相对较小。结果表明，针对情绪调节可能有助于打破乳腺癌女性炎症与疾病症状之间的循环。
