Way to go Wake Forest University scientists -- for adding to the body of evidence connecting stress to illness and for reporting before anyone else that the stress hormone epinephrine causes changes in prostate and breast cancer cells that may make them resistant to death.

Emotional stress contributes not only to the development of cancer, says lead researcher George Kulik, D.V.M., Ph.D, but it also reduces the effectiveness of cancer treatments.

Previous research shows levels of epinephrine, produced by the adrenal glands, are sharply increased during stressful situations and can stay elevated during long-term stress and depression.

During this study, published in the on-line Journal of Biological Chemistry, Kulik and colleagues found that a protein called BAD -- the cause of cell death -- becomes inactive when cancer cells are exposed to epinephrine.

This is huge for patients and researchers.

"It may be important for patients who have increased responses to stress to learn to manage the effects," said Kulik. "And, the results point to the possibility of developing an intervention to block the effects of epinephrine."

On May 16, Sheryl Crow, one of our favorite celebrity breast cancer survivors, gave her first public performance since announcing her breast cancer diagnosis, surgery and radiation treatment. She was hired by a new broadcast network to sing A Change Would Do You Good -- a theme song for one of their new television series. When Crow stumbled through the lyrics of Soak Up the Sun, she joked about it saying, "I knew the words last night. I think the radiation went to my brain." But she is back, and that is all that matters.

On May 19, she performed with Billy Joel, Lenny Kravtiz, Russell Crowe and Will Ferrell at Sting's Rainforest Foundation Fund Benefit Concert in New York. Revlon sponsored what the Guinness Book of World Records has deemed to be the biggest environmental fundraising event in the world. The Empire State Building glowed environmental green as a tribute to the fundraising efforts to save rainforests from destruction. We have posted about rainforest plants with the potential to help treat or cure cancer -- here and here. But, we may never benefit from the healing plants found and plants yet to be discovered, if the rainforest continues to be destroyed by the greed of illegal logging. Not only is Crow back -- she is making a difference -- and having a great time doing it because -- to quote her, all I wanna to do is have some fun. We are glad she has returned to performing her music and celebrating her cancer survivorship.

Is there a plant growing deep in the heart of the Borneo rainforest that can cure cancer? According to the WWF, plants with the potential to help treat or cure cancer have been found there. But, we may never benefit from the healing plants found and plants yet to be discovered, because the rainforest is being destroyed by the greed of illegal logging.

In a report called Biodiscoveries, Borneo's Botanical Secret, scientists are currently testing samples in the hope of developing drugs that could treat cancer. For example, an Australian pharmaceutical company is studying a promising anti-cancer substance from a shrub found in the rainforest. A compound present in the plant Aglaia leptantha has been found to effectively kill 20 kinds of human cancer cells in laboratory tests, including those that cause brain and breast cancer, and melanoma. Right now, it's a race to see how much of the rainforest can be saved from those who can only see the immediate profit in logging and lumber sales. Honest to goodness, can I suggest cob construction? Once the rainforests are gone, they are gone. So too, the healing secrets that grow there.