DOI: 10.1097/01.COT.0000292131.83177.d4
,
Issn Print: 0276-2234
Publication Date: 2004/06/10
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email
 |
Checking for direct PDF access through Ovid | |
Excerpt
A researcher here at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, Cornelia M. Ulrich, PhD, Assistant Member at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Research Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Washington, reported that two biomarkers of inflammatory response, C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA), both decrease with exercise.
Reductions in these markers may therefore indicate a decreased risk of cancer due to exercise. CRP is currently used to gauge risk of myocardial infarction.
In cancer, the effect of exercise on inflammatory markers may help explain in part the associations observed between increased physical activity and reduced risk for cancer as well as other chronic diseases, Dr. Ulrich said.
The same phenomenon, reduction of inflammation biomarkers, could also be behind the relationship between the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and protection against colon and possibly breast cancer.
The study Dr. Ulrich described showed that women who engaged in moderate activity for an average of three and a half days a week over one year had a 20% reduction in CRP and a similar drop in SAA.
“These markers are often elevated among the overweight, and an earlier exercise intervention study showed that moderate intensity exercise can lower CRP and SAA among obese women,” Dr. Ulrich said.
“We think low levels of inflammation markers that increase with age may have a lot to do with fat cells producing cytokines, namely IL6, IL1, and TNF-alpha, which in turn induce the liver to produce CRP and SAA.”
The year-long program of moderately intense exercise included 114 postmenopausal women, age 50 to 75, with sedentary lifestyles and a body mass index (BMI) greater than 24.
“Although the research into C-reactive protein and inflammation and cancer is just beginning, there are many studies that point to a role in low-grade inflammation in cancer development,” she said.
She cited a recent study by a team led by Thomas P. Erlinger, MD, MPH, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health that suggested that elevated CRP levels in healthy individuals predict a risk of incidental colon cancer (JAMA 2004;291:585–590).
