Emotions Immunology and Breast Cancer

Study participants will receive be randomized to the experimental group (receive
individualized psychotherapy + standard of care) or the control group (standard of care) and
both groups will complete psychological questionnaires. Both groups will have blood sampling
and have their biopsied tissue read for immunological factors.

Patients with triple negative breast cancer or with breast cancers presenting at a large size
(greater than one centimeter) have a worst prognosis than other types of breast cancer or
cancers that are diagnosed when smaller than one centimeter. For these patients, neoadjuvant
chemotherapy, that is chemotherapy given before surgical removal of the cancer, is often
used. Common indications for using neoadjuvant therapy include: available clinical trial,
learning about the tumor response in vivo to a particular chemotherapy and shrinking the
tumor so as to convert a mastectomy to a lumpectomy at the time of resection. In patients
receiving neoadjuvant treatment, there is usually 6-months between the diagnosis and the
surgical breast tumor resection during which the chemotherapy is administered, and during
that time patients are offered support group therapy. Although the prognosis for breast
cancer patients has improved, this subset of patients still poses a clinical challenge.

Growing evidence in the psychological field has documented a link between the immune system
and psychological factors, emphasizing that stress and trauma are detrimental to the ability
and effectiveness of the immune system and emphasizing that mental health has an importance
not only in and of itself on how the person feels, but also translates into physical health
at least in part through the immune system. Personality traits and other emotional factors
remain as viable candidates contributing to the development of malignancies, but the research
in this area is confusing. For example, many authors report that depressed women are more
prone to develop breast cancer than others, while other research has failed to find such a
connection.

Nevertheless, many clinicians notice that cancer tends to present after a major loss or
emotional trauma. Some research suggests that the suppression of negative emotions or
difficulty expressing emotions such as anger and hostility are characteristic of the
cancer-prone personality, so that in a typical study, clinicians who interviewed patients
prior to breast biopsy were able to predict the presence of a malignancy in 94% of cases
based on psychological factors alone. Similarly, a study has been able to predict with 75%
accuracy those patients who had early cancer with no knowledge of their Pap smear results,
based on the presence of extreme hopelessness. However, although there are many similar
studies, other researchers have not been able to confirm the importance of emotional factors.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Non-pregnant adult (eighteen years old or older) women with a diagnosis of breast
cancer

- Planned to receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy for about six month duration

- Must be fluent in speaking, reading and writing English

- Not planning on undergoing individual psychotherapy during the study time outside the
study.

- Biopsy procedure to be performed with surgical treatment planned at Houston Methodist
System

Exclusion Criteria:

- Pregnant or planned to become pregnant

- Patient not fluent in English

- Patients undergoing individual psychotherapy