Immunological Changes after Cancer Treatment and Participation in an Exercise Program

Abstract

The PBST patients were immunocompromised before undertaking the transplant, and the transplant procedure imposed further adverse changes to the leukocyte and lymphocyte counts. The leukocyte and CD8 counts returned to normal within 3 months posttransplant; however, the other immunological parameters assessed demonstrated a delayed recovery. Although participation in the exercise program did not facilitate a faster immune cell recovery, neither did the exercise program hinder or delay recovery.

Exercise in adult and pediatric hematological cancer survivors: an intervention review

“…39,40 Nine studies (comprising 13 publications) were of high quality. 39,40,[52][53][54][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65] Several exercise interventions for HSCT survivors took place during hospitalization 56,58,63 or started during hospitalization and continued after release, 40,57,[59][60][61][62]64 whereas others were performed only in the outpatient or homebased setting. 39,[52][53][54][55]65,66 Many interventions were aerobic and successfully increased functional capacity or at least offset the loss of functional capacity associated with HSCT.…”

“…An aerobic exercise intervention during the inpatient phase induced a significant pre-post change in hemoglobin concentration. 58 Kim and Kim 63 reported that 6 weeks of resistance training in the inpatient setting resulted in a significant improvement in lymphocyte count, yet, Hayes et al 62 found that a 3-month combined aerobic and resistance training intervention (beginning inpatient and continuing after release) did not facilitate immune recovery.…”

Physical exercise as adjuvant therapy for patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

“…The types of physical and psychosocial problems that are most relevant to the current review include: (a) loss of physical performance/fitness, [10][11][12][13][14] (b) fatigue, 8,10,[15][16][17][18][19] (c) distress, 20,21 (d) emotional problems (anxiety, depressions and so on) 10,21 and (e) immunological/hematological changes. 22 In addition, common somatic side effects (GVHD, infections, diarrhea, nausea, pain and so on 2,10,19,[23][24][25] ) likely exacerbated the physical and psychological problems.…”

“…Note: Hayes et al 11 published four articles 11,22,29,30 that utilized the same sample, but emphasized different research questions; thus, the actual total number of separate studies for this review was 15.…”

A controlled randomized study examining the effects of exercise therapy on patients undergoing haematopoietic stem cell transplantation

“…However, these were almost exclusively the patients who had undergone an autologous transplantation and were already in the rehabilitation phase. [19][20][21][22][23] More recently, studies by Mello et al and Kim provide the first information on physical activities after patients received an allogeneic transplantation, 24,25 but no studies have emerged so far concerning the effects of exercise therapy on HSCT patients during the phase of conditioning and the immediate post-transplant period. However, regular physical activity may be very important during these phases to counteract the consequences of immobility.…”