Karin Nordin’s research study looks at physical training and cancer: effects and understanding of mechanisms for preventing and minimizing cancer-related fatigue, improving quality of life and disease outcome
Chronic inflammation has been linked to both the initiation and progression of cancer. The accumulation of inflammatory markering throughout the cancer trajectory has been linked to deteriorating treatment responses, highlighting the need for interventions. Exercise has been suggested to lower the inflammatory burden in patients with cancer.
Investigate the association between chemotherapy completion rates, measured as relative dose intensity (RDI), and markers of inflammation immediately pre-treatment. Evaluate the effect of exercise training with different intensities on markers of inflammation, both during and after anti-cancer treatment.
577 patients with breast, prostate and colorectal cancer underwent six months of either high-intensity or low-to-moderate intensity exercise. To measure the inflammatory burden, blood samples were taken before treatment initiation, immediately after the treatment and approximately three months after treatment (at the end of the six months intervention). Blood samples were analysed for inflammatory cytokines which describe the inflammatory burden for each individual patient. To investigate the effect of inflammation on chemotherapy completion, we used the ratio between planned and administered chemotherapy dose and investigated a potential connection between low completion rates and elevated inflammation pre-treatment. To investigate the effect of exercise on the inflammatory burden, we compared the exercise groups both immediately after the treatment and at the end of the six months exercise intervention.
Elevated inflammation pre-treatment might affect chemotherapy completion rates. High-intensity exercise limits the inflammatory burden during chemotherapy better than low-to-moderate intensity exercise. Hence, high-intensity exercise could help to lower the inflammatory burden for patients with cancer undergoing anti-cancer treatment.
As one of the first second generation studies, offering the benefit of an exercise intervention to all participants, we were able to compare different exercise modalities for inflammatory cancer management. Here, one of the largest sample sizes to date was used to generate results which may guide future exercise oncology trials aiming at reducing inflammation in patients with cancer.
