Another “HOLD ON THERE BABA LOUIE!” Moment

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

Doctors harp on exercise.

Despite the harping – or in my case, perversely because of it – I avoid exercise like the plague.

Even so, as I read more and more sites promoting the “exercise makes you better if you have breast cancer” meme, I found that almost none of them give any kind of evidence as to WHY exercise fights cancer and promotes healing.

So I dug into the sites and finally found some evidence supporting this wild, “Do this one weird thing…” kind of meme. This week, it’s number:

9) Physical activity appears to enhance proliferation of lymphocytes, increases the number of natural killer cells and increases lymphokine-activated killer cells activity.

What’s a “lymphocyte”?

What’s a “natural killer cell”?

What’s “lymphokine-activated killer cell activity”?

To tell you the truth, these appear to fade from easily definable to mumbo-jumbo-ish, so let’s have at it!

But we need to take one more step backward and start with White Blood Cells.

In contrast to the RED blood cell, which are the cells that make up the visible part of the blood. The red blood cells – or rbc’s – are the part of the blood that makes it RED! It’s red because each of the rbc’s has many heme molecules in it. The heme molecules are the ones that carry a tiny iron atom in their center. It’s the iron atom that OXYGEN grabs hold of so that the rbc’s can carry oxygen from the lungs, allowing cells everywhere to "BREATHE" (technically to carry on cellular respiration...but this isn't a textbook). There are zillions of these little suckers in your bloodstream at all times and THEY come from the marrow in your bones.

So white blood cells – or wbc’s – don’t have heme in them; therefore they are, by comparison, WHITE. But they still travel in the bloodstream. Instead of carrying oxygen, they attack and destroy any germs that get into your body. They also take care of any other junk that gets in.

Lymphocytes are a kind of wbc. There are three kinds of lymphocytes – natural killer cells, T cells and B cells. Another name for the natural killer cells are NK cells. T cells are the kind of cells that the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) targets.

NK cells have the specific duty of protecting the body from tumors and viruses by “popping” the cells to destroy them; the other two handle the release of cytokines, lysis and immune regulation and creating antibodies.

The effect of exercise on NK cells however, seems to be blasted out of the water by the study referenced below and quoted here: “…latent CMV infection is associated with lowered numbers of NK-cells expressing inhibitory receptors and a blunted mobilization of NK-cells in response to acute exercise. This may indicate a compromised immune response to ‘fight-or-flight’ situations in those infected with CMV.”

Conversely, “Moderate exercise has been reported to produce an anti-inflammatory environment and thus reduce the risk of infection. Conversely, continuous, intense exercise may increase oxidative stress (an overproduction of reactive oxygen species compared to the body’s ability to detoxify), inflammatory responses, as well as the risk for infection.”

And blasting back from the other side: “Longitudinal training studies in previously sedentary people have failed to show marked changes in T and B cell functions provided that blood samples were taken at least 24 h after the last exercise bout.” Also: “Evidence suggests that the prophylactic effect of exercise may, to some extent, be ascribed to the anti-inflammatory effect of regular exercise mediated via a reduction in visceral fat mass and/or by induction of an anti-inflammatory environment with each bout of exercise (e.g. via increases in circulating anti-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin (IL)-1 receptor antagonist and IL-10). To understand the mechanism(s) of the protective, anti-inflammatory effect of exercise fully, we need to focus on the nature of exercise that is most efficient at allieviating the effects of chronic inflammation in disease. The beneficial effects of endurance exercise are well known; however, the antiinflammatory role of strength training exercises are poorly defined. In addition, the independent contribution of an exercise-induced reduction in visceral fat versus other exercise-induced anti-inflammatory mechanisms needs to be understood better. There is consensus that exercise training protects against some types of cancers. Training also enhances aspects of anti-tumour immunity and reduces inflammatory mediators. However, the evidence linking immunological and inflammatory mechanisms, physical activity, and cancer risk reduction remains tentative.”

Translated: “We don’t know enough yet to say if exercise is magic”.

I’m NOT saying exercise is a waste of time. There are enough other benefits listed above to induce anyone who is hesitant or ridicules the IMPORTANCE of exercise in fighting and recovering from cancer (in this case breast cancer specifically) to start a regimen of moderate exercise and make it a regular part of life.

BUT if anyone says that the data are in and it’s a win and then runs out to hire a trainer or join an exclusive club offering personal coaching and cutting edge vegetable-fruit mixed drinks…well, like everything else that has to do with breast cancer, there’s no “cure all”, no magic bullet and nothing that works for everyone all the time.

Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphocyte, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21933704, http://www.nsca-lift.org/HotTopic/download/Immune-Function.pdf, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21446352
Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho2hgCC9tHO2iEZsKGEqnFHMCX2akUSi5fgEg6LmwALVLbD4sg0TQqsN5F5R8Qwaf3MVwKV072SFbUgd2nAZGBPZLbEd19V6HxPUgneVrCi0WbwCmQeU2VH1r9F3hyGmcqk85qk5NOa8Y/s1600/white-blood-cell-amungst-red.jpg

“HOLD ON THERE BABA LOUIE!” – Exercise “reduces cytokines in adipose tissue” might be PURE HYPE!

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

Doctors harp on exercise.

Despite the harping – or in my case, perversely because of it – I avoid exercise like the plague.

Even so, as I read more and more sites promoting the “exercise makes you better if you have breast cancer” meme, I found that almost none of them give any kind of evidence as to WHY exercise fights cancer and promotes healing.

So I dug into the sites and finally found some evidence supporting this wild, “Do this one weird thing…” kind of meme. This week, it’s number:

8) Increased levels of pro-inflammatory factors and decreased levels of anti-inflammatory factors have been linked with increased cancer risk. Physical activity might reduce systemic inflammation alone or in combination with reduction in body weight or composition through reducing inflammatory cytokines in adipose tissue.

What are pro and anti-inflammatory factors?

Let’s start with CYTOKINES and let me warn you, even researchers are still a bit fuzzy about these molecules, which explains the “might” in the paragraph above. We’ll take this subject as a “details at 11” kind of thing – it’s changing every day, but TODAY and to the best of our knowledge, we can say that we’re pretty sure that cytokines are small molecules that are given off by numerous cells and are used to communicate with each other. Cytokines are a large and diverse family of molecules with many jobs. One thing we are pretty sure they do to control the immune system – that collection of white blood cells and chemicals that spring to work when you’re hurt or sick and the body has to fight off an infection. The line between cytokines and hormones is also pretty blurry but PROBABLY, cytokines come from lots of places and there are only set amounts in the blood – though that amount can leap up during trauma or infection. Hormone levels are steady. Many cells produce cytokines. Most hormones come from specific glands (adrenal, pancreas, etc). Also, while usually specific, some cytokines act like hormones to have an effect on the entire body. Last of all, some cytokines act outside the immune system and affect the development of the human body.

As to breast cancer, at least one cytokine affects both the presence of and severity of breast cancer: “In a study published in the January 15th issue of Cancer Research…researchers showed that activation of the CXCR4 [cytokine] receptors [on the cancer cells] resulted in increased tumor growth and metastasis…and less dependent on estrogen for continued growth…to become metastatic and resistant to endocrine therapy…[in] A second study published in the current issue of Surgery…authors reported that all benign breast tissues had no detectable CXCR4 levels, whereas all 101 breast cancer patients showed at least some level of this cytokine receptor. Of these breast cancer patients, 79 had low levels of CXCR4 and 22 had high levels of CXCR4. These high CXCR4 levels were linked with increased breast cancer recurrence and worse chances of survival…overexpression of CXCR4 cytokine receptors is linked to worse breast cancer outcomes…blocking this pathway might become a valuable breast cancer treatment for patients overexpressing this cytokine receptor.”

The big “might” up above has given breast cancer, cytokines and exercise a high level of interest. The third reference below cites a study that, as of my referencing of it, was still recruiting participants.

So – I’m going to label THIS particular aspect of exercise and breast cancer as a big MAYBE, LET’S WAIT AND SEE. So don’t go spreading the word that exercise reduces cytokines and decreases breast cancer.

Nobody knows enough yet to say one way or the other.


Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine, http://breastcancerfightnowbydraarontabor.blogspot.com/2011/01/cytokine-receptor-cxcr4-worsens-breast.html, http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00851812

Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQV27CfFqnrNKvU6XZxscA3VxfzsVsRCskJ-0N2kSxqeiQz68i0Ld8jpfompfrpBXhsivcIFRFUdF8_o96szMppuTJU3rtggjJ5Rm-o0yM8UZcfkqiZwmpzquBl2v1ER2CzAii3M_YQok/s1600/LYIN+LION+(11).png

NORMAL LIFE Exercise Reduces Insulin Resistance!

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

Doctors harp on exercise.

Despite the harping – or in my case, perversely because of it – I avoid exercise like the plague.

Even so, as I read more and more sites promoting the “exercise makes you better if you have breast cancer” meme, I found that almost none of them give any kind of evidence as to WHY exercise fights cancer and promotes healing.

So I dug into the sites and finally found some evidence supporting this wild, “Do this one weird thing…” kind of meme. This week, it’s number:

7) Insulin resistance, hyperinsulinaemia, hyperglycaemia and type 2 diabetes have been linked to increased risk of breast, colon, pancreas and endometrial cancers. Physical activity decreases insulin resistance, reduces hyperinsulinaemia and reduces risk for diabetes, which could explain the link between increased physical activity and reduced risk for these cancers

I talked about the connection between insulin and breast cancer earlier (http://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2012/03/exercise-reduces-estrogen-in-blood-and.html), so I’ll talk more about EXERCISE here.

But before I go on, I’d like to say something about “non-exercise exercise”. My wife and hero works with kindergartners all day long: teaching reading, going out to recess, going to lunch, chasing down stragglers and generally corralling the little munchkins so much that she comes home with aching feet.

My question has always been: at what point does what I DO in everyday life become exercise?

There are advocates of daily exercise that explain: “We don't expend energy doing anything. We've actually engineered regular daily physical activity out of our lives…He says a lot of things stop us from burning calories…We come to work in almost any vocation and we sit. And we sit for eight hours and then we get up and we sit in the motorcar, you know, in automobile and we go home. When we arrive at home, we sit in front of the television. We have frozen TV dinners. We have pre-prepared, prepackaged food that doesn't require energy to collect it. We don't hunt, cook it. It's mostly just put in microwaves and simple systems…We don't even chop vegetables anymore. Bauman says that's very different from the way life used to be. He cites research by a colleague who studied people living and working in a historical Australian village, recreating life in the 19th century…Their energy expenditures were three to five times the amount that people spend today. And that was just a regular person going to and from work. It wasn't a lumberjack or someone who was working on the land or someone who had a huge heavily physical job…And, of course, three to five times more energy expenditure burns a lot more calories… Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for death and for illness. It contributes to about one-sixth of heart disease, cardiovascular disease, about the same for diabetes, about 12 percent for falls in the elderly, and about a tenth of all breast cancer and colon cancer are attributable to being physically inactive.” (Interview, Bauman/Silberner)

But what if my wife isn’t DOING that? Is what she DOES every day considered “exercise”?

YES!

“Even if you don’t have a 15 or 30 minute window to dedicate to yoga or a bike ride, that doesn’t mean you can’t add physical activity to your day. If you're not ready to commit to a structured exercise program, think about physical activity as a lifestyle choice rather than a single task to check off your to-do list. Look at your daily routine and consider ways to sneak in activity here and there. Even very small activities can add up over the course of a day: Clean the house, wash the car, tend to the yard and garden, mow the lawn with a push mower, sweep the sidewalk or patio with a broom; bike or walk to an appointment rather than drive, banish all elevators and use the stairs, briskly walk to the bus stop then get off one stop early, park at the back of the lot and walk into the store or office, take a vigorous walk during your coffee break. Walk while you’re talking on your cell phone; walk or jog around the soccer field during your kid’s practice, make a neighborhood bike ride part of weekend routine, play tag with your children in the yard or play exercise video games. Walk the dog together as a family, or if you don’t have your own dog, volunteer to walk a dog from a shelter. Organize an office bowling team, take a class in martial arts, dance, or yoga with a friend or spouse; gently stretch while watching your favorite show, do push-ups, sit-ups or lift light weights during the commercial breaks—you'll be amazed at how many repetitions you can fit in during the commercials of a half hour show! Better still, once a week turn off the TV and take a walk outside instead”

And the benefit of all that movement?

The very same ones as ANY form of exercise provides, and in this particular case, it results in an increased effectiveness of insulin in those who are insulin resistant!

So MOVE! If we can do it, so can you!

Resources: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127525702, http://www.helpguide.org/life/exercise.htm

Image: http://img.ehowcdn.com/article-new/ehow/images/a07/qg/bv/games-kindergartenage-children-800x800.jpg

Exercise Reduces the Circulation of Female and MALE Hormones????

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

I am behind this week on all my writing. For a number of reasons. Firstly, I’m consumed by the novel I’m writing right now. Then Thursday night I had a meeting for summer school, good, but busy after a day of preparing for MAJOR testing over the next three weeks. Then a student in the school I work at unexpectedly died. Finally, Saturday was invested in the grandkids being here. So I posted Free Fiction Thursday late and now GUY’S GOTTA TALK. Sorry!

Doctors harp on exercise.

Despite the harping – or in my case, perversely because of it – I avoid exercise like the plague.

Even so, as I read more and more sites promoting the “exercise makes you better if you have breast cancer” meme, I found that almost none of them give any kind of evidence as to WHY exercise fights cancer and promotes healing.

So I dug into the sites and finally found some evidence supporting this wild, “Do this one weird thing…” kind of meme. This week, it’s number:

6) Studies in postmenopausal women indicate that physical activity might affect postmenopausal breast cancer and endometrial cancer risk by reducing body fat, thereby lowering circulating levels of estrogens and androgens

This one, while it seems different is an iteration of the research I’ve translated above. In the interest of screening out my chit-chatting, I’ll quote the pertinent information from previous posts:

“What hormone levels does exercise reduce? Primarily estrogen. Estrogen does things besides produce secondary sexual characteristics and feed breast cancer tumors. It also increases fat stores in the body (important for energy), increases bone formation, increases triglycerides in blood, promotes fluid balances and decreases fat deposition. Exercising to a point of fat loss causes a decrease in the number of cells in women that make estrogen in fat cells (this begins in menopause) , therefore the amount of estrogen in the blood goes down and the cancer cells grow more slowly.

“Insulin and insulin-like growth factor from the pancreas and the liver respectively, regulate the uptake of glucose and fats in the body as well as regulating cell growth. With exercise, insulin absorption and effectiveness increases which shows up as less insulin in the bloodstream and doing its job in the body – which is to cause cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood and store it as glycogen rather than allowing it to float around the bloodstream – which is toxic.” (from – Exercise Reduces Estrogen)

“The fat cells are where the leptin is manufactured, therefore, when you bomb the factories with walking, eating sensible amounts and kinds of food, using your elliptical machine, parking farther out in a parking lot and walking in and taking the Pup for a quick walk to the park; you reduce the amount of leptin in your blood because you have fewer fat cells to make it!” (from – Exercise Reduces Leptin)

“In other words, the more you exercise, the more fat is metabolized (duh!); but the more you exercise, the LESS these hormones work (huh?); but because of exercise, you don’t need as MUCH of the hormone to do the work of fat destruction (“lipolytic activity”); therefore, there are fewer hormones to drive cancer cell growth. (The last sentence is a layman’s interpretation of everything I’ve read. I’m NOT a doctor. I am a biology major and I’ve read constantly and regularly both popular and scientific articles. None of the articles says this outright – but I believe that it is implied.)” (from – Exercise Reduces Metabolic Hormones)

“Exercise pumps up the immune system and lowers estrogen levels. With as little as four hours of exercise per week, a woman can begin to lower her risk of breast cancer. You’ll be able to maintain a healthy weight. Regular exercise can help you maintain a healthy weight by building muscle and burning fat... fat cells make estrogen; extra fat cells mean more estrogen in the body and estrogen can make hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers develop and grow.” (from – Exercise May Improve Immune Functions)

Lastly: ANDROGENS??? Aren’t those “male hormones”?

Yes. Like testosterone.

So: “The role of endogenous steroid hormones in pre- and post-menopausal breast cancer has been investigated in EPIC in the largest studies conducted to date on this topic. We have shown that both estrogens and androgens increase breast cancer risk while SHBG decreases risk after menopause. In parallel, overweight and low physical activity increase breast cancer risk after menopause. On the contrary, before menopause, androgens increase breast cancer risk, progesterones decrease risk and SHBG and obesity are not associated with risk. These findings provide strong clues for further investigations of the metabolic and hormonal factors specifically related to pre- and post-menopausal breast cancer…[as a side note] We found that the consumption of fruit and vegetables is not associated with breast cancer risk. This is an important finding as it helps to narrow down the factors potentially involved in breast cancer etiology and prevention.” (from – see source below in Resources)

I know this entry is more summary than translation – but at this point, I thought it safer to NOT reinvent the wheel and start all over again!

Resources: http://epic.iarc.fr/keyfindings.php
Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Testosterone-from-xtal-3D-balls.png/200px-Testosterone-from-xtal-3D-balls.png