Home-based online exercise training and chronic, low-grade inflammation in cancer patients after curative surgery:...

Cancer patients who have undergone curative treatment may retain chronic, low-grade inflammation, a condition known to promote carcinogenesis, and, thus, cancer recurrence. We aimed to investigate whether home-based online exercise training can mitigate chronic, low-grade inflammation of cancer patients after curative oncologic surgery.

We analyzed data sets from 145 patients with breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer after curative surgery in the randomized controlled multicenter CRBP-TS trial. The intervention group was instructed to exercise at least twice weekly via video presentations for 6 months. The control group received no video presentations. We analyzed the modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS) and plasma levels of interleukin (IL)-1 beta, IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p70, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) at baseline, after 3 months, and after 6 months. Baseline values were compared to normative values of healthy populations. Mixed-effect models were applied for statistical analysis of intervention effects.

We detected baseline elevations of IL-1 beta, IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p70, TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma compared to normative values of healthy individuals. All patients in each group except for one had an mGPS of 0 at baseline. None of the cytokines revealed any significant interaction effects. After 6 months, all patients had an mGPS of 0.

Cancer patients may exhibit low-grade chronic inflammation after surgery. In this study, home-based online exercise training did not affect low-grade chronic inflammation. Future studies should further investigate the efficacy of home-based online exercise training considering adjunctive therapies, other exercise modalities, and cancer types.

DRKS-ID: DRKS00020499; Registered 17 March 2020. https://drks.de/search/en/trial/DRKS00020499.