“…Recent findings from laboratory models suggest that biobehavioral processes can influence cancer biology via direct effects of the neuroendocrine system on the functional activity of tumor cells (Thaker, Han et al 2006). Many solid epithelial tumors express receptors for neuroendocrine mediators from the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) (the catecholamines, epinephrine and norepinephrine) (Mitra and Carraway 1999;Lutgendorf, Cole et al 2003;Nagmani, Pasco et al 2003;Palm, Lang et al 2006;Thaker, Han et al 2006;Ramos-Jimenez, Soria-Jasso et al 2007;Sastry, Karpova et al 2007) or the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (the glucocorticoid, cortisol) (Wu, Chaudhuri et al 2004). Analyses carried out in vitro and in mouse xenograft models have shown that neuroendocrine receptors regulate several biological processes involved in cancer metastasis and disease progression, including angiogenesis (Lutgendorf, Cole et al 2003;Thaker, Han et al 2006), tissue invasion (Sood, Bhatty et al 2006;Yang, Sood et al 2006), cell motility (Palm, Lang et al 2006), and programmed cell death (Wu, Chaudhuri et al 2004;Sastry, Karpova et al 2007).…”