Acute exercise-induced catecholaminergic responses after 16 weeks of community-based exercise training in early-stage breast cancer survivors.
[BACKGROUND] Breast cancer survivors (BCS) demonstrate attenuated immune cell mobilization following acute exercise, with partial restoration following exercise training.
APA
Struder JF, Chauntry AJ, et al. (2026). Acute exercise-induced catecholaminergic responses after 16 weeks of community-based exercise training in early-stage breast cancer survivors.. World journal of clinical oncology, 17(1), 112039. https://doi.org/10.5306/wjco.v17.i1.112039
MLA
Struder JF, et al.. "Acute exercise-induced catecholaminergic responses after 16 weeks of community-based exercise training in early-stage breast cancer survivors.." World journal of clinical oncology, vol. 17, no. 1, 2026, pp. 112039.
PMID
41608335
Abstract
[BACKGROUND] Breast cancer survivors (BCS) demonstrate attenuated immune cell mobilization following acute exercise, with partial restoration following exercise training. Epinephrine (EPI) and norepinephrine (NE) are responsive to exercise-stress and directly regulate immune cell function, indicating a potential role in this restorative process. Similar attenuations in catecholaminergic signaling have been reported in BCS post-exercise; however, it is unknown whether this is maintained within a trained state. We hypothesized that compared to non-cancer controls (CON), acute exercise would induce an attenuated catecholaminergic response in untrained BCS, which would be recovered to levels similar to CON after training.
[AIM] To compare acute exercise-induced catecholaminergic responses between BCS and CON before (PRE) and after (POST) completing a community-based exercise intervention.
[METHODS] Thirteen BCS (age: 56 ± 2 years, body fat: 39.7% ± 1.3%) and 13 CON (age: 56 ± 2 years, body fat: 41.2% ± 1.7%) performed 45 minutes of intermittent cycling at 60% peak power output PRE and POST 16 weeks of community-based exercise training. Blood samples were collected at baseline (BASE), immediately (0 hour), and 1-hour (1 hour) post-exercise for assessment of the acute EPI and NE response. Separate linear mixed models were used for PRE and POST EPI and NE assessment.
[RESULTS] At PRE, both BCS and CON demonstrated increases in EPI (+87.4 pg∙mL, < 0.001) and NE (+1295 pg∙mL, < 0.001) at 0 hour, with no group differences. At POST, group differences in NE initiation (0 hour-BASE) were not statistically significant (-544.9 pg∙mL, = 0.115, = 0.92), despite divergent responses between BCS (+28%, = 0.175, = 0.36) and CON (-13%, = 0.377, = 0.23). No group differences were observed for NE recovery (1 hour-0 hour) nor for EPI initiation or recovery.
[CONCLUSION] BCS and CON present with similar exercise-induced catecholaminergic responses regardless of training, suggesting an alternative mechanism may have made a greater contribution to the training-induced immune cell revival previously observed.
[AIM] To compare acute exercise-induced catecholaminergic responses between BCS and CON before (PRE) and after (POST) completing a community-based exercise intervention.
[METHODS] Thirteen BCS (age: 56 ± 2 years, body fat: 39.7% ± 1.3%) and 13 CON (age: 56 ± 2 years, body fat: 41.2% ± 1.7%) performed 45 minutes of intermittent cycling at 60% peak power output PRE and POST 16 weeks of community-based exercise training. Blood samples were collected at baseline (BASE), immediately (0 hour), and 1-hour (1 hour) post-exercise for assessment of the acute EPI and NE response. Separate linear mixed models were used for PRE and POST EPI and NE assessment.
[RESULTS] At PRE, both BCS and CON demonstrated increases in EPI (+87.4 pg∙mL, < 0.001) and NE (+1295 pg∙mL, < 0.001) at 0 hour, with no group differences. At POST, group differences in NE initiation (0 hour-BASE) were not statistically significant (-544.9 pg∙mL, = 0.115, = 0.92), despite divergent responses between BCS (+28%, = 0.175, = 0.36) and CON (-13%, = 0.377, = 0.23). No group differences were observed for NE recovery (1 hour-0 hour) nor for EPI initiation or recovery.
[CONCLUSION] BCS and CON present with similar exercise-induced catecholaminergic responses regardless of training, suggesting an alternative mechanism may have made a greater contribution to the training-induced immune cell revival previously observed.