VEGFA and cancer: In light of the importance of anxiety being generated during the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and the global health relevance and scientific value of the skin cancer model under study, here we investigate endocrine (physiological indices of chronic stress burden), immune (indices of protective versus suppressive immune function in the tumor microenvironment), and tumor growth-promoting (VEGF) mechanisms mediating the effects of high- versus low-anxious behavioral phenotypes on tumor emergence and progression.