Inflammatory Processes, Emotion Regulation, and Depression in Prostate Cancer Survivors
Abstract
Rationale, Objective, and Aims: In the approximately 2.5 million American men diagnosed, the experience of prostate cancer can exact a psychological and physical toll. The period following radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy for localized prostate cancer is marked by relatively rapid changes in physical functioning and can be a critical period marked by increased depression and declining health-related quality of life for affected men. In the context of cancer, depression can compromise important health outcomes. However, little research has sought to examine the unfolding risk and occurrence of depression following prostate cancer treatment. A primary goal of this research is to specify and test a theoretically driven model of how psychological and contextual vulnerabilities shape trajectories of depression in the year following prostate cancer treatment. This project calls upon stress and coping, psychoneuroimmunology, and emotion regulation theories and research to investigate the causes and mechanisms of depression among prostate cancer patients. This research seeks to accomplish three specific aims. Aim 1 is to investigate how psychological and contextual vulnerabilities, including cancer-related and general stressors (such as post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] symptoms), emotion-regulating processes, and proinflammatory cytokines shape the trajectories of depression in Veteran and non-Veteran men with prostate cancer in the year following treatment. Aims 2 and 3 will examine emotion-regulating processes and proinflammatory markers as proximal mediators of psychological and contextual vulnerabilities’ effects on depression, respectively. We will accomplish these aims using a longitudinal research design set to begin prior to initiation of cancer treatment in 150 ethnically diverse men, with subsequent assessments at 1 and 2 months post-treatment and every 2 subsequent months through month 12. Blood sample collection, validated questionnaires and interviews, and evaluations of emotionally expressive behaviors will be administered. Applicability of the Research: What are the likely contributions of this study to the Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP) Overarching Challenges? This study is a direct response to the call to meet the FY19 PCRP Overarching Challenge of improving the quality of life for survivors of prostate cancer. Our approach will allow identification of which features characterize patients in whom depression is persistent, likely, or severe and to whom to target clinical intervention. Moreover, the focus on trajectories of symptoms will provide the opportunity to also understand when intervention might be most useful. Understanding the patterns and underlying causes of depression as it is experienced by prostate cancer patients will have implications for the assessment and treatment of depression and the development of useful clinical interventions. What types of patients will it help, and how will it help them? Our study is designed to examine a comprehensive, though theoretically sound, set of contextual influences on distress symptoms. This approach is designed to help all patients treated for localized prostate cancer who are receiving surgical and radiation-based treatments. Moreover, our ability and plan to recruit both Veterans and non-Veteran patients, as well as our investigation into the influence of PTSD symptoms, enhances the likelihood that our study will have specific utility to patients who are also Veterans. What are the potential clinical applications, benefits, and risks? Substantiated by our pilot work, there are minimal risks to patients associated with participating in our planned research. However, the potential benefits of participating include contributing to the knowledge base about quality of life after prostate cancer. This is not a clinical trial, and no treatment or intervention will be administered. T
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 10, 2021
- Source ID
- W81XWH2010308
Entities
People
- Michael Hoyt
Organizations
- United States Army
- University of California, Irvine