Children with Cancer Vary Greatly in Their Resting Adrenaline Concentrations and Only Moderately Increase Adrenaline after High Intensity Exercise

Background/Objectives : Exercise is generally recommended as an adjunct therapy for cancer patients as it counteracts the adverse effects of cancer and its treatment. Recent studies demonstrate anti‐cancer effects of exercise‐induced adrenaline through natural killer cell mobilization and Hippo signalling. The aim of this study was to measure the changes of the adrenaline (American English: epinephrine) concentration in children with cancer. Design/Methods : We measured the adrenaline concentrations with a commercial ELISA kit in children aged 6‐18 years between the first and third course of cancer treatment. The children performed a single bout of high intensity interval training (HIIT) on a bicycle ergometer (10x15 s at level 14‐16 on a RPE scale). Blood for adrenaline analysis was taken prior to and within 3 min after exercise. Results : Patients were 14.7±4.0 years old and had the following diagnoses: Hodgkin Lymphoma (3 pts), rhabdomyosarcoma (1pt), synovial sarcoma (1pt), nephroblastoma (1pt). Finishing exercise, the blood lactate concentration increased to 4.9±2.2 mmol/l and the maximal heart rate to 177±11 bpm. The average resting adrenaline concentration was 78.3±82.6 pg/ml and increased to 94.0±95.4 pg/ml post exercise. Two children had greatly elevated baseline adrenaline, one patient with 241.5 pg/ml (rhabdomyosarcoma) and one patient with 83.5 pg/ml (nephroblastoma). These patients showed an increase of adrenaline to 278.1 pg/ml and 118.1 pg/ml after exercise, respectively. Conclusions : Children with cancer had greatly varying baseline adrenaline concentrations but only moderately increased adrenaline levels after exercise by 23%. High baseline concentrations of adrenaline could potentially be explained by adrenaline synthesis of the tumour, as reported in the literature. Our data may suggest that catecholamines may not contribute to potential anti‐cancer effects of exercise in children, as the baseline concentrations seem variable and the increase of adrenaline during exercise is minor, even during high intensity exercise. The observation however needs to be confirmed in a larger patient cohort.     «

Background/Objectives : Exercise is generally recommended as an adjunct therapy for cancer patients as it counteracts the adverse effects of cancer and its treatment. Recent studies demonstrate anti‐cancer effects of exercise‐induced adrenaline through natural killer cell mobilization and Hippo signalling. The aim of this study was to measure the changes of the adrenaline (American English: epinephrine) concentration in children with cancer. Design/Methods : We measured the adrenaline concent...     »