Exercise could help fight breast cancer

MEXICO CITY (apro).- Scientists from Finland and Sweden conducted a study to determine the effect of intense exercise on the mobilization of anti-tumor and pro-tumor immune cells in women with breast cancer.

Researchers from the University of Turku in Finland and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, which awards the Nobel Prizes in physiology and medicine, conducted the study, which was published in late June in the scientific journal Frontiers in Immunology.

Scientists recruited 19 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients aged between 36 and 68 to perform 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise on a bicycle ergometer.

Blood samples were collected at various time points: at rest, 15 and 30 minutes after the start of exercise, and 30 and 60 minutes after exercise. The scientists then analyzed various immune cell subsets using flow cytometry, which is a method of determining cell number, percentage of live cells, and certain cell characteristics, such as size and shape.

The results showed that acute exercise increased the total number of immune cells, called leukocytes or white blood cells, for example: neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes and neutrophils, among others, such as cytotoxic T cells also called “natural killer cells.”

But some of the changes were transient – ​​for example, the proportions of some cells, such as “natural killer” cells, increased, while others, such as myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), which are thought to play a causal role in promoting tumor-associated immunosuppression, decreased. The proportion of regulatory T cells – which prevent overexertion of the immune system – remained unchanged with exercise.

Traditionally, physicians have advised patients to rest during cancer treatments, but this has changed due to the positive effect of exercise on the disease and treatment-related side effects, as well as associations with more positive prognoses.

According to experts, exercise appears to be “the only effective way to reduce treatment-related fatigue.” Cancer patients are now being advised to exercise.

According to a study on sedentary behavior and cancer prevention and control, the likelihood of being diagnosed with breast cancer is 13% lower in more physically active people than in less active ones. Cancer-specific mortality is 31% lower in physically active people after diagnosis compared to sedentary patients.