Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Sep;105(9):1524-1539.
doi: 10.1113/EP088627. Epub 2020 Jul 26.

Natural killer cell mobilization and egress following acute exercise in men with prostate cancer

Erik D Hanson  1   2 , Samy Sakkal  2 , Shadney Que  2 , Eunhan Cho  3 , Guillaume Spielmann  3 , Elif Kadife  2 , John A Violet  4 , Claudio L Battaglini  1 , Lee Stoner  1 , David B Bartlett  5 , Glenn K McConell  2 , Alan Hayes  2   6   7
Affiliations
Free article

Natural killer cell mobilization and egress following acute exercise in men with prostate cancer

Erik D Hanson et al. Exp Physiol. 2020 Sep.
Free article

Abstract

New findings: What is the central question of this study? What are the characteristics of the NK cell response following acute moderate-intensity aerobic exercise in prostate cancer survivors and is there a relationship between stress hormones and NK cell mobilization? What is the main finding and its importance? NK cell numbers and proportions changed similarly between prostate cancer survivors and controls following acute exercise. Consecutive training sessions can likely be used without adverse effects on the immune system during prostate cancer treatment.

Abstract: Prostate cancer treatment affects multiple physiological systems, although the immune response during exercise has been minimally investigated. The objective was to characterize the natural killer (NK) cell response following acute exercise in prostate cancer survivors. Prostate cancer survivors on androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and those without (PCa) along with non-cancer controls (CON) completed a moderate intensity cycling bout. NK cells were phenotyped before and 0, 2 and 24 h after acute exercise using flow cytometry. CD56 total NK cell frequency increased by 6.2% at 0 h (P < 0.001) and decreased by 2.5% at 2 h (P < 0.01) with similar findings in CD56dim cells. NK cell counts also exhibited a biphasic response. Independent of exercise, ADT had intracellular interferon γ (IFNγ) expression that was nearly twofold higher than CON (P < 0.01). PCa perforin expression was reduced by 11.4% (P < 0.05), suggesting these cells may be more prone to degranulation. CD57- NK cells demonstrated increased perforin and IFNγ frequencies after exercise with no change within the CD57+ populations. All NK and leukocyte populations returned to baseline by 24 h. NK cell mobilization and egress with acute exercise appear normal, as cell counts and frequencies in prostate cancer survivors change similarly to CON. However, lower perforin proportions (PCa) and higher IFNγ expression (ADT) may alter NK cytotoxicity and require further investigation. The return of NK cell proportions to resting levels overnight suggests that consecutive training sessions can be used without adverse effects on the immune system during prostate cancer treatment.

Keywords: androgen deprivation therapy; exercise immunology; exercise oncology.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Al-Attar, A., Presnell, S. R., Peterson, C. A., Thomas, D. T., & Lutz, C. T. (2016). The effect of sex on immune cells in healthy aging: Elderly women have more robust natural killer lymphocytes than do elderly men. Mechanisms of Ageing and Development, 156, 25-33.
    1. Bigley, A. B., Rezvani, K., Chew, C., Sekine, T., Pistillo, M., Crucian, B., … Simpson, R. J. (2014). Acute exercise preferentially redeploys NK-cells with a highly-differentiated phenotype and augments cytotoxicity against lymphoma and multiple myeloma target cells. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 39, 160-171.
    1. Campbell, J. P., Riddell, N. E., Burns, V. E., Turner, M., van Zanten, J. J., Drayson, M. T., & Bosch, J. A. (2009). Acute exercise mobilises CD8+ T lymphocytes exhibiting an effector-memory phenotype. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 23(6), 767-775.
    1. Campbell, J. P., & Turner, J. E. (2018). Debunking the myth of exercise-induced immune suppression: redefining the impact of exercise on immunological health across the lifespan. Frontiers in Immunology, 9, 648.
    1. Campbell, K. L., Winters-Stone, K. M., Wiskemann, J., May, A. M., Schwartz, A. L., Courneya, K. S., … Schmitz, K. H. (2019). Exercise guidelines for cancer survivors: consensus statement from international multidisciplinary roundtable. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 51(11), 2375-2390.

Publication types