A product of the metabolism of intestinal bacteria that increases when training stimulates the immune system to act against cancer.
Exercise is a powerful weapon of cancer prevention and increases the effectiveness of immunotherapies in oncological care.
Exercise is also capable of altering the intestinal microbiota for the better. Now a search published on Cell has put these two previously tried to explain these two facts The anticancer effect of training.
Merit of bacteria?
According to the study of the University of Pittsburgh, at least part of the benefits of physical activity against cancer would be attributable to a product of the metabolism of intestinal bacteriawhich increases the power of immune cells in charge of killing cancer cells.
Scientists compared the evolution of an aggressive form of melanoma in two groups of mice, one who had completed four weeks of regular physical exercise and one who had remained sedentary. As expected, The trained animals had smaller tumors and better survival resultsbenefits that – however – they completely disappeared when the rodents were treated with antibiotics who exterminated their intestinal microbiota. Therefore, the bacteria of the intestine had to play an important role in anti-cancer activity.
A substance that enhances lymphocytes
More than bacteria in themselves, they have shown further analyzes, to carry out an anti-cancer activity it would be a metabolite (i.e. a metabolic product) bacteria, the form;, whose concentrations increase with exercise. This substance increases the effectiveness of the cytotoxic T lymphocytes (T CD8+), which exercise a crucial role in immune surveillance against infected or tumor cells.
When scientists administered daily formats with melanoma, adenocarcinoma or lymphoma, the growth of tumors seemed inhibited; The substance also increased the effectiveness of a form of immunotherapy in mice with melanoma, a malignant skin tumor.
The researchers then followed 19 patients with advanced shapes of melanoma: those with the highest levels of forming in the blood showed A longer survival without progression of the disease compared to those who had low levels of the substance.
Improve immunotherapy
Finally, when scientists administered fecal transplants of patients with various levels of formalized to mice with aggressive shapes of melanoma, the animals that received the highest levels showed A enhanced activity of T cells It is a better control of tumors.
«In the future – explains Marlies Meisel, the main author of the study – the formman could be potentially studied as Aduvante therapy To improve the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors (A form of immunotherapy, editor’s note) in patients who do not respond to therapy ».
