ArticlePloS one2018
Circulating catecholamines are associated with biobehavioral factors and anxiety symptoms in head and neck cancer patients.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- The underexplored links between cancer and the internal body climate: Implications for cancer prevention and treatment.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Pooled it
- Chronic stress and myeloid immunosuppression in cancer: A neuroimmune link to behavioral dysfunction.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Review
- Cancer-induced nerve injury unveils a sympathetic-to-sensory nerve axis in a mouse model of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.Science translational medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Psychological distress and tumor cell β2-adrenergic receptor levels in patients with surgically resected non-small cell lung cancer.Acta oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden) · 2026Article
- Tumor-driven stabilization of CD8Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Oral cancer in women: clinical profile, risk factors, treatment outcomes and survival predictors in 32 years of experience.Clinical oral investigations · 2025Article
- Article
- Stress regulatory hormones and cancer: the contribution of epinephrine and cancer therapeutic value of beta blockers.Endocrine · 2025Review
- Oral Cancer and Sleep Disturbances: A Narrative Review on Exploring the Bidirectional Relationship.Cancers · 2025Review
- Cancer neuroscience in head and neck: interactions, modulation, and therapeutic strategies.Molecular cancer · 2025Review
- Porcupine expression promotes the progression of oral carcinogenesis.Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- Oral cancer cells secrete stress neurotransmitter and proliferate in response to tobacco carcinogen NNK.Endocrine oncology (Bristol, England) · 2025Article
- Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals adrb1 as a sympathetic nerve-regulated immune checkpoint driving T cell exhaustion and impacting immunotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- The Neuroimmune Axis and Its Therapeutic Potential for Primary Liver Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Atrioventricular re-entrant tachycardia and atrioventricular node re-entrant tachycardia in a patient with cancer under chemotherapy: a case report and literature review.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2024Article
- Understanding the role of nerves in head and neck cancers - a review.Oncology reviews · 2024Review
- β‑adrenergic receptor activation promotes the proliferation of HepG2 cells via the ERK1/2/CREB pathways.Oncology letters · 2023Article
- The βNature · 2023Article
- How cancer hijacks the body's homeostasis through the neuroendocrine system.Trends in neurosciences · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Studies have shown that stress-related catecholamines may affect cancer progression. However, little is known about catecholamine secretion profiles in head and neck cancer patients. The present study investigated plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine levels in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients and patients with oral leukoplakia, as well as their association with clinicopathological and biobehavioral variables and anxiety symptoms. A total of 93 patients with HNSCC and 32 patients with oral leukoplakia were included. Plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine levels were measured by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-ED), and psychological anxiety levels were measured by the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine concentrations were significantly higher in patients with oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) compared to non-cancer patients. Oral SCC patients displayed plasma norepinephrine levels about six times higher than oropharyngeal SCC patients, and nine times higher than oral leukoplakia patients (p < .001). Plasma epinephrine levels in oral SCC patients were higher compared to the oropharyngeal SCC (p = .0097) and leukoplakia (p < .0001) patients. Oropharyngeal SCC patients had higher plasma norepinephrine (p = .0382) and epinephrine levels (p = .045) than patients with oral leukoplakia. Multiple regression analyses showed that a history of high alcohol consumption was predictive for reduced plasma norepinephrine levels in the oral SCC group (p < .001). Anxiety symptom of "hand tremor" measured by the BAI was an independent predictor for higher plasma norepinephrine levels in HNSCC patients (β = 157.5, p = .0377), while the "heart pounding/racing" symptom was independently associated with higher plasma epinephrine levels in the oropharyngeal SCC group (β = 15.8, p = .0441). In oral leukoplakia patients, sleep deprivation and worse sleep quality were independent predictors for higher plasma norepinephrine levels, while severe tobacco consumption and higher anxiety levels were factors for higher plasma epinephrine levels. These findings suggest that head and neck cancer patients display sympathetic nervous system hyperactivity, and that changes in circulating catecholamines may be associated with alcohol consumption, as well as withdrawal-related anxiety symptoms.
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