Immune responses to exercise in children treated for cancer

Background Children treated for cancer commonly benefit physiologically fro m moderate aerobic training, but his less clear if impairment of the immune system secondary to chemotherapy reduces the immunological tolerance of ex ercise relative to normal children. Methods. Experimental design: a case series. Setting: hospital laboratory P articipants: six children aged. 13-14 yr; successfully treated for acute ly mphoblastic leukaemia and other types of neoplasms, were compared with 11 n ormal volunteer children. Interventions: three of the sample underwent 12 w eeks training at 70-85 % of maximal heart rate; the remaining three provide d initial and final test data only. Measures: mood state (Piers-Harris test ), anthropometric data, maximal oxygen intake, response to 30 min exercise challenges at anaerobic threshold, and standard immune measures (differenti al count, cytolytic activity, and mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation) at rest, during and following submaximal exercise. Results. A low maximal oxygen intake, excess of body fat, and high anxiety scores all improved with training. Children who were still receiving chemot herapy showed low resting CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD19+ and CD25+ counts and redu ced PHA-induced proliferation. Acute exercise and training caused further i mpairment of immune responses, although changes remained insufficient to ca use concern for health. Conclusions. Exercise therapy is beneficial following treatment of cancer, but should be prescribed individually; with a careful monitoring of immune responses.