The Effects of a Single Bout of Resistance Exercise in Breast Cancer Survivors

This study examined the effect of resistance exercise (RE) on the acute responses of three inflammatory cytokines (Interleukin 6 [IL-6], Interleukin 10 [IL-10], Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha [TNF-alpha] in breast cancer survivors. Breast cancer survivors (BCS) (n = 4) and healthy controls (C) (n=8) completed three sets of four exercises at 70% of one-repetition max. Blood samples were collected prior (Pre), immediately after (ImP), 2 hours after (2P) and 24 hours after (24P) exercise bout. No differences were observed between groups for each cytokine at each time point. However, the RE did cause a significant upregulation in IL-6 at 2P (p=0.027) and a significant downregulation of TNF-alpha at 24P in both groups (p=0.011). These findings suggest that no differences exist between BCS and C with regards to the RE induced inflammatory response, and that RE promotes an anti-inflammatory response into recovery, as evidenced by the reduction in TNF-alpha at 24P.Master of Art