Research released at the ASCO meeting in Chicago confirms that regular exercise is a must for men with advanced prostate cancer. It was found that a regular and structured physical exercise program reduces cytokine production which is related to depression and to the inflammatory processes. According to the researchers these factors may impact prostate cancer progression.
Men receiving the standard of care experienced a 0.08 log10 increase in pro-inflammatory interleukin-6 production, while men treated with an exercise program experienced a 0.03 log10 decrease in IL-6 (P<0.05), said Charles Kamen, PhD, research assistant professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.
In his oral presentation at the meeting Kamen and colleagues observed a similar relationship with another pro-inflammatory cytokine, interleukin-8. In the controls, the researchers noted a 0.03 log10 increase compared with a 0.04 log10 decrease among the exercise group.
Using the Profile of Mood States (POMS), the research team determined that psychological distress decreased 5.17 points among the exercise group but increased 2.43 points in the men who were in the control group (P=0.02).
“This study supports the use of exercise for cancer survivors for reducing psychological distress and suggests a potential biological mechanism by which this improvement occurs, namely by reducing systemic inflammation,” Kamen said in his presentation.
The study was very small, enrolling 35men (34 finished the study) for the exercise-based arm and 23 men in the control arm.