SCIENTIFIC REPORT 2004 - Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

C A N C E R P R E V E N T I O N A N D C O N T R O L P R O G R A M
Robbins, M, Szapocznik, J, Tejeda, M, Samuels,
D, Ironson, G, and Antoni, MH. The protective
role of the family and social support network in a
sample of HIV+ African American women:
results of a pilot study. Journal of Black Psychology
29:17-37, 2003.
Lechner, SC, Antoni, MH, Lydston, D,
LaPerriere, A, Ishii, M, Devieux, J, Ironson, G,
Schneiderman, N, Brondolo, E, Tobin, J, and
Weiss, S. Cognitive-behavioral interventions improve
quality of life in women with AIDS. Journal
of Psychosomatic Research 54: 253-261,
2003.
Lechner, SC, Zakowski, SG, Antoni, MH,
Greenhawt, M, Block, K, and Block, P. Do
sociodemographic and disease-related factors influence
benefit-finding in cancer patients?
Psycho-oncology 12: 491-499, 2003.
Penedo, FJ, Dahn, JR, Gonzalez, JS, Molton, I,
Carver, CS, Antoni, MH, Roos, BA, and
Schneiderman, N. Perceived stress management
skill mediates the relationship between optimism
and positive mood following radical prostatectomy.
Health Psychology 22:220-2, 2003.
Penedo, FJ, Gonzalez, JS, Dahn, JR, Antoni,
MH, Malow, R, Costa, P, and Schneiderman, N.
Personality, quality of life and HAART adherence
among men and women living with HIV/AIDS.
Journal of Psychosomatic Research 54:271-8,
2003.
Penedo, FJ, Gonzalez, JS, Davis, C, Dahn, J,
Antoni, MH, Ironson, G, Malow, R, and
Schneiderman, N. Coping and psychological distress
among symptomatic HIV+ men who have
sex with men. Annals of Behavioral Medicine
25:203-13, 2003.
HIGHLIGHTS/DISCOVERIES
• Life stress and stress management in the promotion
of human papillomavirus to cervical neoplasia—
researchers have been investigating the interaction
of viral and psychosocial risk factors for
cervical cancer among African American
women who are co-infected with HIV-1 and
high versus low-risk human papillomavirus
(HPV) types. One study specifically examines
the relationships between life stress, pessimism,
emotional expression, natural killer cell cytotoxicity
(NKCC), and cytotoxic-suppressor
T cells, and the development of squamous
intraepithelial lesions (SIL) and cervical carcinoma
in women co-infected with HIV and one
or more HPV types. Dr. Antoni’s laboratory
recently found that elevated life stress predicts
greater promotion and persistence of SIL,
greater numbers of genital herpes virus outbreaks,
and greater declines in NK cell percentages
over a one-year prospective period in
women co-infected with HIV and HPV. The
reductions in NK percentage appeared to explain
the association between elevated life stress
and SIL promotion. This work led to one of the
projects in the CPOR, which evaluates the effects
of CBSM intervention on distress, quality
of life, NK cells, and their cytotoxicity, and the
promotion of SIL and indices of clinical disease
progression in HIV+HPV+ women.
• Psychosocial intervention after surgery for breast
cancer—the laboratory has an NCI-funded
project titled “Facilitating Positive Adaptation
in Women with Breast Cancer,” which examines
the effects of group-based CBSM intervention
on psychosocial adjustment in 200
early-stage breast cancer patients in the weeks
following surgery. Pilot work over the prior year
established an immunologic battery for this
study, which includes lymphoproliferative responses
to CD3 crosslinking and associated
Th1- and Th2-like cytokine production, and
cytokine-stimulated NKCC to K562 targets
and breast-cancer related cell lines. This work
also showed that women assigned to CBSM
showed increases in positive growth and opti-
6
UM/Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center Scientific Report 2004