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Thirty minutes of exercise increases tumour-killing white blood cells in blood
A new Finnish study from University of Turku shows that 30-minutes of exercise can increase the proportion of tumour-killing white blood cells in the bloodstream of breast cancer patients. White blood cells, the cells of our immune
system, fight against cancer, bacteria, and viruses. However, not all white blood cells destroy cancer cells and some can even promote cancer growth. The most important cell types that destroy cancer cells are cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells. Cell types that support cancer growth include, for example, regulatory T cells and myeloid derived suppressor cells. “The balance of different types of white blood
cells determines whether the immune system works to destroy cancer or to support it. If there are more cancer-destroying cells than cancer- promoting cells in the tumour area, the body is more capable of fighting cancer,” says lead author, Doctoral Researcher Tiia Koivula from the University of Turku, Finland. Twenty breast cancer patients who had just been diagnosed and therefore had not yet started their cancer treatments participated in the study. During the study, the patients cycled for 30 minutes on an exercise bike, at a resistance of their own choosing.
Blood samples were taken from the patients
before, during and after the exercise. Blood samples were analysed to calculate the amount of many different types of white blood cells, and
the total white blood cell count, and found that the proportion of natural killer cells increased significantly, while the proportion of myeloid derived suppressor cells decreased. “We found that during the exercise, the number
and proportion of cancer-destroying cells increases in the bloodstream, while the proportion of cancer- promoting cells either stays the same or decreases. “However, it is still unclear whether these
the amounts measured during the exercise were compared to those at rest. During the exercise, the amount of several different white blood cell types increased in the bloodstream. The number of cancer-destroying cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells increased the most. On the other hand, the number of cancer-promoting regulatory T cells and myeloid derived suppressor cells did not change. The researchers also examined the proportions of different white blood cell types relative to
changes seen in the bloodstream also lead to changes in the white blood cell counts in the tumour area,” explained Koivula. “In this study, it was seen that the number of almost all white blood cell types decreased back to resting values one hour after the exercise. With the current knowledge, we cannot say where the white blood cells go after the exercise, but in preclinical studies, cancer-destroying cells have been seen to migrate into the tumour area.” The researchers also found that the larger the tumour, the less the number of natural killer cells increased, and if the breast cancer was oestrogen and/or progesterone receptor-positive, the number of cytotoxic T cells increased less than in hormone receptor-negative cancers. “According to current knowledge, it is beneficial for all cancer patients to exercise, and our recent study supports this notion,” Koivula commented. View the study at:
https://www.frontiersin.
org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/ fimmu.2024.1394420/full
August 2024 I
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