# The role of emotion regulation and social support in grief, depression, and inflammation markers in breast cancer patients

> **NIH NIH U54** · PONCE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2022 · $94,786

## Abstract

Project Summary. Little is known about grief in breast cancer (BC) patients that have experience losses
associated to the cancer diagnosis, and which are the protective factors that could manage grief preventing
complications such as Major Depression Disorder (MDD). Grief is a psychological phenomenon, related to MDD,
which is experienced after the death of a loved one, and some literature argues that it could be also experienced
after a non-death-related loss. Women diagnosed with BC experience several losses which stem from the BC
diagnosis that could be potential predictors of grief and depression. Literature shows that in BC patients’ loss of
social support leads to depression symptoms onset, and symbolic losses, such as sexual dysfunction, and hair
loss leads to emotional distress. The affective neuroscience field has shown that grief is one of the seven primary
emotions in our brain, which main function is to maintain social bonds as they convey security. According to
animal models, the PANIC/GRIEF’s neurological pathway (system) is triggered by social separation, causing
despair, and sustained activation of PANIC/GRIEF leads to inhibition of the seeking-reward system triggering
depression symptoms. On the other hand, the social signal transduction theory of depression hypothesizes that
interpersonal adversity can up-regulate components of the immune system involved in inflammation processes
eliciting changes in behavior associate with initiation of depression symptoms. Literature shows that grief can
activate the HPA axis resulting in increased expression of inflammation markers associated with MDD and BC
progression. Grief has been widely studied in the context of death of a loved one, however, studies concerning
non-death-related losses and grief have been conducted using models that show poor consistency highlighting
the need for an empirical approach. The inability to cope with different types of perceived non-death-related
losses could imply concerning health repercussions in BC patients. Understating the relationship between
losses, grief, and depression, as well as potential protective factors is key for improving quality of life in BC
patients as it this information can contribute to targeted psychological treatments. The central hypothesis of this
administrative supplement is that emotion regulation and social support are potential protective coping
mechanisms in grief management, depression symptoms, and upregulation of proinflammatory factors assorted
to BC tumor progression after non-death-related losses. The overall goal of this study is to investigate non-death-
related losses due to the BC diagnosis in relation to grief, and to determine the potential role of emotional
regulation and social support as protective factors against systemic inflammation upregulation, and depression
symptoms in Latina BC patients. Aim 1 will determine the relationship of perceived non-death-related losses due
to breast cancer diagnosis with the e...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10533578
- **Project number:** 3U54MD007579-37S2
- **Recipient organization:** PONCE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Richard J. Noel
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $94,786
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 1997-08-25 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10533578

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10533578, The role of emotion regulation and social support in grief, depression, and inflammation markers in breast cancer patients (3U54MD007579-37S2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-08 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10533578. Licensed CC0.

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