We’re sick of hearing how important physical exercise is to human health, but the truth is that it’s hard to emphasize its benefits enough. positive effects on a number of different aspects of our well-being.
Now, for example, a new study published in the specialized media Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases has documented the benefits it can bring to people with advanced cancerand as these are evident, even attending to each individual training session that is carried out.
Myokines, medicine of our own body
The research builds on previous work also carried out by Edith Cowan University (ECU) (Australia) which had already observed that men with advanced prostate cancer can change their body’s chemical environment over six months of training , so as to some degree suppress the growth of the Carcinogenic cells.
Specifically, in this class of patients, physical exercise seems to increase the levels of proteins called myokineswhich are secreted by the cells of the skeletal muscle (the one that moves the bones of our body) and which can suppress tumor growth and even actively fight cancer cells by stimulating a good number of anti-cancer processes in our body.
Now, the new study has concluded that even a single session of physical exercise raises the level of these proteins, with which it could be said that every dose of physical exercise counts to achieve these positive effects.
Not a cure, but extends survival
This finding comes after the authors took nine patients with advanced prostate cancer and prescribed 34 minutes of high intensity exercise on a stationary bike and blood samples were taken both before the activity and just after and 30 minutes later.
Indeed, they found that the blood of these patients had increased levels of myokines after exercise, which raised the anticancer effects on a cell culture about 17%. And this phenomenon occurred even in patients with very advanced disease and who had already undergone many treatments for years.
Of course, it is important to emphasize that this does not mean that exercise can be a cure for these people; in them, the cancer is already considered terminal taking into account the current therapeutic technology. But it is possible, they say, that a regimen of intense exercise on a regular basis could extend their survival.
More research is still needed on the therapeutic potential of exercise against cancers, but these researchers believe their findings could help shape medical advice given to patients with advanced cancer.
References
Kim, JS., Taaffe, DR, Galvão, DA et al. Acute effect of high-intensity interval aerobic exercise on serum myokine levels and resulting tumor-suppressive effect in trained patients with advanced prostate cancer. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis (2022). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41391-022-00624-4
