A Single Exercise Session May Slow Cancer Cell Growth, Study Finds

The Washington Post notes that past research "indicates that exercise helps some cancer survivors avoid recurrence of their disease."

But a new study "offers an explanation of how, showing that exercise changes the inner workings of our muscles and cells, although more study is still needed..." The study, published last month, involved 32 women who'd survived breast cancer. After a single session of interval training or weightlifting, their blood contained higher levels of certain molecules, and those factors helped put the brakes on laboratory-grown breast cancer cells. "Our work shows that exercise can directly influence cancer biology, suppressing tumor growth through powerful molecular signals," said Robert Newton, the deputy director of the Exercise Medicine Research Institute at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia, and senior author of the new study. His group's experiment adds to mounting evidence that exercise upends the risks of not only developing but also surviving cancer...

Scientists know contracting muscles release a slew of hormones and biochemicals, known as myokines, into our bloodstreams and have long suspected these myokines fight cancer. In some past studies with mice and healthy people, blood drawn after exercise and added to live cancer cells killed or suppressed the cancer's growth... [The new study tested cancer cells in high-tech petri dishes with blood drawn from cancer survivors.] Drenched in plasma from either the interval trainers or the lifters, many cancer cells quit growing. Quite a few died. (The blood drawn before exercise had no effects.) The cancer-fighting impacts were greatest with the blood drawn after interval training. Why? Additional testing showed this blood contained the highest concentrations of certain, beneficial myokines, especially IL-6, a protein that affects immune responses and inflammation...

What these results mean, Newton said, is that "exercise doesn't just improve fitness and well-being" in people who've had cancer. "It also orchestrates a complex biological response that includes direct anticancer signals from muscles..." Questions remain, of course. Can any type of exercise fight cancer? Newton and other researchers have doubts. The exercise in this study was strenuous, by design. "Earlier studies suggested that the stronger the exercise stimulus, the greater the release of anticancer myokines," Newton said... Even the weight training in this study was less potent than the intense intervals. But Newton believes weight training remains key to cancer fighting. "People with cancer who increase their muscle mass through resistance training also experience greater rises in circulating myokines," he said. More muscle means more myokines.

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[theshowmecanuck]

Way to look like a full on completely ignorant asshole. I bet you think you sounded smart there. Here is an article that gives people some useful information on an important topic, that was not known before. There's nothing stopping you (or anyone else) from taking this thing, which you had no clue about before so couldn't, and digging deeper. In essence fuck off you useless troll. Cancer sucks. Information on fighting it is always welcome.

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[gweihir]

And found another idiot.

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[vivian]

You are right - cancer does suck - but the OP is correct to ask for quantitative information.
As someone with a brother whos busy dying of stage 4 esophagus cancer, I can assure you there is an unlimited amount of bullshit theories and unsubstantiated therapies out there.
My brother's been strict keto since the initial diagnosis (against his doctors advice) due to various videos on places like diary of a CEO, and has also had unqualified but all knowing diet advisors having him take various green juices, and

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[quonset]

No, the critical factor is ignoring people like you who will find any supposed flaw to claim the idea is completely worthless. Such as wind and solar not working when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't out. Since, in those two specific instances, the technology doesn't work, people like you will claim it should never be used because it isn't viable.

The only one racing to idiocracy is you.

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[gweihir]

And found one more idiot. I did not say the idea was worthless, I said the _reporting_ was worthless. And I said so very, VERY, very clearly.

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[Swervin]

If you read the full paper, which is linked to the link, it gives many more details. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/a... [nih.gov]

EMS?

[jenningsthecat]

I wonder if Electrical Muscle Stimulation might work in the same way, or if it might enhance the cancer-fighting effects of interval training and weight lifting.

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[TheStickBoy]

do you mean use EMS during interval or weight lifting?

but you made me think, if there is a cancer patient in bed who cannot get out of bed maybe EMS could help recovery.

A single session = no one is exercising.

[gurps_npc]

If a single session may reduce the risk, then it would need to be in comparison to people that did not do any exercise at all.

Look, I am pretty lazy, but even I exercise once a year.

All kidding aside, the real problem is that health issues tend to make exercise much more difficult. Some people get tired when they exercise. That's normal. But some people get headaches (may be a sign of weakened blood vessels in your brain - which can burst and kill you.)

I can easily see how people with certain cancers end

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[timeOday]

Even most people who do exercise don't do interval training. That is discomfort-level exercise!

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[evil_aaronm]

It depends on intensity. "Interval" doesn't require maximum effort, as Deadpool would say. I tend to go for 95% or better, and, sure, it hurts - running, or cycling - and I'm about dead afterwards, but I look forward to those sessions. I usually do one a week.

Study Too Narrow

[PleaseThink]

They only measured five components of the blood. I wish they had also measured glucose, insulin, and ketone levels. Including those could have added good evidence for or against the theory that reducing your overall carb intake aids in slowing cancer. The theory is that since cancer cells use more glucose than normal cells, stabilizing blood glucose to minimal levels should reduce cancer's rate growth, exactly what they saw in the study. Excising uses up excess glucose so... nothing since they didn't m

Shouldnt Atheletesâ¦

[BigTurc]

In general have lower risk of cancer? TLDR. A friend of mine has been a HIIT athlete for years and just got treated for breast cancer. So is the benefit only after?