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Miracle Sport can help cure cancer
Constant fatigue, extreme fatigue, concentration problems and almost no power: Many cancer patients suffer from these severe symptoms that make everyday life almost unbearable. Therefore, most people tend to rest more to protect the body. But especially with cancer, it can obviously be very effective, still to do sports. This is shown by a new study with mice, reported by Danish researchers in the journal "Cell Metabolism". Accordingly, movement can stop the growth of tumor cells and strengthen immune cells.
Complaints and side effects of the therapy can severely limit everyday life
Cancer patients are often limited in their quality of life. Fear, depression and side effects of the therapy, such as severe fatigue, nausea, pain, fatigue and fatigue can make the design of everyday life considerably more difficult. Understandably, therefore, many sufferers have the meaning of rest. However, health experts believe that exercise during cancer therapy can increase well-being and help to control complaints. "So patients can be taken out of their passivity and shock," explains Professor Martin Halle of the Technical University of Munich, in conversation with the news agency "dpa".
Sport can significantly support cancer therapy. Image: Robert Kneschke - fotolia Special sports program begins after the diagnosis
However, this does not mean that the patients are to run high-performance sports, so the expert. Instead, it is about an individually tailored sports therapy, which begins after the diagnosis and not only after the treatment in the context of medical rehabilitation (rehab). "The patient should know that he also has his illness in his hand and is responsible for ensuring that his therapy works optimally," says Halle. In the Klinikum rechts der Isar, this form of sports therapy in the three most common types of cancer (lung, intestine and prostate) already implemented, as well as the mental health care and nutritional care of cancer patients, the report of the "dpa".
So that patients can benefit nationwide from the advantages of the special exercise program, the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) now wants to expand its offer "sports as a therapy". "Inactivity is in itself a risk factor for cancer," says Professor Dr. med. Martin Halle from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) according to a statement of the TK.
"The sooner we start to turn this inactivity into an activity, the better the prognosis of the tumor patient," the sports physician continues. For this purpose, the doctor in the future during the first hospital stay on a multi-module treatment plan on which u.a. healthy nutrition, psycho-oncological care and sports therapy. The training program will be individually put together - depending on the therapy, symptoms and subjective condition of the patient. "It's about the patient getting used to doing something for themselves right from the start. That's good for your own psyche. And the movement promotes the compatibility of chemotherapy, "continued Halle.
Animals walk several kilometers daily in the hamster wheel
Several studies have shown that sport in cancer can have a positive effect. Experts suggest that this could be due, among other things, to changes in physical condition, hormone secretion and the immune system during physical activity. "That there are connections, is known, but the mechanistic processes behind it are usually not well understood," said Adelheid Cerwenka from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, further towards the news agency.
Enlightenment could now bring a new study to mice, by which the positive effect of movement in cancer could be re-confirmed. Danish researchers had regularly run animals with skin, lung and liver cancer in a hamster wheel and recognized that their tumors shrank in comparison with those of non-active conspecifics by about half. The animals had covered an average of four kilometers a day in the bike, report Line Pedersen and Pernille Hojman from the University of Copenhagen in the journal "Cell Metabolism". According to this, the adrenaline released during intense movement evidently mobilizes the anti-cancer immune cells and causes them via the blood to reach the bodies in the body that are affected by the tumor. From the point of view of local experts, the new result could probably be transferable to humans in the light of previous findings. "This result brings the field a great deal forward," says Wilhelm Bloch of the German Sport University Cologne.
More natural killer cells in the tumors of the active mice
As the researchers report, the training had little influence on the weight of the mice. But it turned out that in the trained mice those genes were more active, which play an important role for the immune system and inflammatory processes. Next, the scientists then examined how high the proportion of immune cells in the respective tumors was. They realized that in the mice that regularly cycled in the bike, there were significantly more so-called "NK cells" (natural killer cells) than their non-active counterparts. These cells belong to the white blood cells and represent an important component of the immune system in that they are able to recognize and kill tumor cells and virus-infected cells. The killer cells act as a kind of "detonator", because they release certain signal substances and thereby stimulate other immune cells of the immune system.
Signal molecule takes on mediator function
The researchers further observed that e.g. By injecting adrenaline into the mice a similar effect on the number of "NK cells" could be achieved as by exercise. Likewise, there was a reduction of the tumor, after these had been deliberately introduced into the cancerous tissue in animals without existing phagocytes. In contrast, the action of the hormone adrenaline was inhibited, the tumor did not shrink despite regular running. "It has been known that the penetration of NK cells can control and regulate the size of tumors, but no one has yet tested how movement affects this system," said researcher Hojman, according to a news release from the journal Cell Metabolism. According to the scientists, the signaling molecule interleukin-6 (IL-6) plays the role of mediator. Because this is increasingly released by increased muscle activity of the muscles and make sure that the immune cells with the bloodstream reach the tumor. According to Hojman, the result of the new study indicates that it may make sense to engage in intensive sports in the case of cancer. (No)