Peripheral tumors induce depressive-like behaviors and cytokine production and alter hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis regulation.

A strong and positive correlation exists between chronic disease and affective disorders, but the biological mechanisms underlying this relationship are not known. Here we show that rats with mammary cancer exhibit depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in the absence of overt sickness behaviors. The production of proinflammatory cytokines, known to induce depressive-like behaviors, was elevated in the periphery and in the hippocampus of rats with tumors compared with controls. In tumor-bearing rats, circulating corticosterone, which inhibits cytokine signaling, was suppressed following a stressor, and gene expression of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors was elevated. The results establish that tumors alone are sufficient to trigger changes in emotional behaviors. Dampened glucocorticoid responses to stressors may exacerbate the deleterious effects of tumor-induced cytokines on affective states.