Palscience

Scientist say that if people have a stressful life might have difficulties to fight virus which causes the majority of cervical cancer cases.

HPV is a sexually transmitted infection -But only small percentage of woman who catch it develop cancer. US researchers writing in the journal Annals of Behavioural Medicine, said that stressed woman has a weaker immune response to the virus. But the study still didn’t prove that stress was the main or the root cause of the problem.

Dr Carolyn Fang - Fox Chase Cancer Center- said that “Women who report feeling more stressed could be at greater risk of developing cervical cancer because their immune system can’t fight off one of the most common viruses that cause it”

It is already known that the way the body’s immune system reacts when confronted with HPV - short for human papillomavirus - can determine whether the infection causes more serious problems.

Many women appear able to “clear” the virus from their bodies, while in others it can cause a persistent infection which raises the risk of the abnormal cell changes which can eventually lead to cancer.

The latest study, carried out at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, looked for reasons why, in some women, the immune system is unable to clear the virus.

Their small study asked 78 women who had had abnormal smear tests to fill in a questionnaire about their day-to-day stresses over the previous month, and any major events such as bereavements or divorce over a longer period.

Then the ability of their immune system to respond to HPV16 - the most common variety of the virus linked to cervical cancer - was measured.

Similar tests were carried out on 28 women who had not received an abnormal smear test, and the results compared.

The researchers found that the immune response was poorer among women who reported higher levels of day-to-day stress. However, there was no correlation between immune response and the number of major events.