Effect of an exercise training intervention with resistance bands on blood cell counts during chemotherapy for lung cancer: a pilot randomized controlled trial

PURPOSE: Chemotherapy for lung cancer can have a detrimental effect on white blood cell (WBC) and red blood cell (RBC) counts. Physical exercise may have a role in improving WBCs and RBCs, although few studies have examined cancer patients receiving adjuvant therapies. The purpose of this pilot trial was to examine the effects of an exercise intervention utilizing resistance bands on WBCs and RBCs in lung cancer patients receiving curative intent chemotherapy. METHODS: A sample of lung cancer patients scheduled for curative intent chemotherapy was randomly assigned to the exercise intervention (EX) condition or usual care (UC) condition. The EX condition participated in a three times weekly exercise program using resistance bands for the duration of chemotherapy. RESULTS: A total of 14 lung cancer patients completed the trial. EX condition participants completed 79% of planned exercise sessions. The EX condition was able to maintain WBCs over the course of the intervention compared to declines in the UC condition (p = .008; d = 1.68). There were no significant differences in change scores in RBCs. CONCLUSIONS: Exercise with resistance bands may help attenuate declines in WBCs in lung cancer patients receiving curative intent chemotherapy. Larger trials are warranted to validate these findings. Ultimately these findings could be informative for the development of supportive care strategies for lung cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trials Registration #: NCT01130714

Arachidonic acid supplementation transiently augments the acute inflammatory response to resistance exercise in trained men

Strenuous exercise can result in skeletal muscle damage, leading to the systemic mobilization, activation and intramuscular accumulation of blood leukocytes. Eicosanoid metabolites of arachidonic acid (ARA) are potent inflammatory mediators, but whether changes in dietary ARA intake influence exercise-induced inflammation is not known. This study investigated the effect of 4 weeks of dietary supplementation with 1.5 g/day ARA (n=9, 24 {plus minus} 1.5 years) or corn-soy oil placebo (n=10, 26 {plus minus} 1.3 years) on systemic and intramuscular inflammatory responses to an acute bout of resistance exercise (8 sets each of leg press and extension at 80% 1RM) in previously trained men. Whole EDTA blood, serum, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMBCs), and skeletal muscle biopsies were collected prior to exercise, immediately post-exercise and at 2, 4 and 48 h of recovery. ARA supplementation resulted in higher exercise-stimulated serum creatine kinase activity (incremental area under the curve (iAUC) p=0.046) and blood leukocyte counts (iAUC for total white cells p<0.001, neutrophils p=0.007, monocytes p=0.015). The exercise-induced fold change in PBMC mRNA expression of interleukin-1 beta (IL1B), CD11b (ITGAM) and neutrophil elastase (ELANE), as well as muscle mRNA expression of the chemokines interleukin-8 (CXCL8) and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (CCL2) was also greater in the ARA group than placebo. Despite this, ARA supplementation did not influence the histological presence of leukocytes within muscle, perceived muscle soreness or the extent and duration of muscle force loss. These data show that ARA supplementation transiently increased the inflammatory response to acute resistance exercise, but did not impair recovery