The substrate of the biopsychosocial influences in the carcinogenesis of the digestive tract

Abstract

Digestive cancer represents a severe public health problem, being one of the main causes of death. It is considered a multifactorial disease, with hereditary predisposition, environmental factors, and other factors involved in carcinogenesis. Both the evolution and the pathogenesis of digestive neoplasms remain incompletely elucidated. As a multifactorial disease, it can be approached by taking into account the biopsychosocial influences via enteric nervous system. Many peptides and non-peptides having a neurotransmitter role can be found in the enteric nervous system, which can influence the neoplastic process directly or indirectly by affecting some angiogenic, growth, and metastasis factors. However, neurotransmitters can also cause directly, through intercellular signalizing, the angiogenesis, the proliferation, and the digestive neoplasms’ metastasis. This new approach to neoplasms of the digestive tube assumes broader psychosocial factors can play an important role in the understanding the ethiopathogenie, the evolution of the disease, and determination of possible molecular targeted therapies; it also suggests that behavioral strategies may be important for maintaining a healthy state with respect to the digestive tract.

Keywords

• enteric nervous system
• neurotransmitters
• carcinogenesis
• biopsychosocial influences