On Thursday, June 5, 2003 the National Cancer Institute sponsored a roundtable at the annual meeting of the PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society (PNIRS) held June 3-7 in Amelia Island, FL. The roundtable served as a forum to discuss scientific issues related to the conduct of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) in cancer control. Michael Antoni, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Miami served as the roundtable facilitator. Dr. Antoni opened the forum by asking participants to share their views on the latest psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) paradigms and technological advances relevant to cancer-related processes and outcomes across the following areas:
- Cancer risk: What is the interaction between genetic risk for cancer and stress?
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Cancer initiation/promotion: What are the roles of PNI and psychoneuroendocrinology (PNE) in promoting a precancerous process to a clinically manifest cancer?
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Cancer treatment: Does stress affect ability to recover function from surgery or from chemotherapy? Within cancer treatment, what are the long-term effects of adjuvant therapy 5, 6, 7, or 8 years later on various surveillance functions such as opportunistic pathogens, quality of life, and other biological factors? Similarly, what are the long-delayed effects of chemotherapy as measured by factors such as illness behavior and cytokine regulation?
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Cancer recurrence: What psychological variables might affect metastases and cancer recurrence?
Executive Summary
Participants List
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