Therapeutic Targeting of Stress Factors in Ovarian Cancer Patients

This research is looking at the effect of biobehavioral factors such as stress and whether these factors alter how the body responds to chemotherapy, one of the purposes of this study is to determine if the addition of a beta-blocker such as Propranolol (Inderal) is tolerable when given with chemotherapy in the treatment of newly diagnosed ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer. An additional purpose of the study is to understand if behavioral factors such as depression and anxiety can alter different blood markers that affect tumor vascularity. The Investigator wishes to determine whether the use of beta-blocker drugs such as Inderal, might alter these behavioral factors by drawing blood prior to and after the administration of Inderal as well as giving behavioral questionaires at different time points. Beta-blockers are commonly used for the treatment of hypertension, protection of the heart after a heart attack, and irregularities in heartbeats. Altering these factors might boost the immune system and affect other areas of cancer biology, thereby allowing the chemotherapy to be more effective. The significance of this research is that it may help improve our treatments of this disease in the future.