Department of Exercise and Sport Science, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States.
Med Hypotheses. 2017 Nov;109:170-173. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2017.10.015. Epub 2017 Oct 17.
Positive cancer patient outcomes, including increased time to recurrent events, have been associated with increased counts and function of natural killer (NK) cells. NK cell counts and function are elevated following acute exercise, and the generally accepted mechanism of increased recruitment suggests that binding of epinephrine releases NK cells from endothelial tissue via decreases in adhesion molecules following. I propose that blood flow-induced shear stress may also play a role in NK cell recruitment from the endothelium. Additionally, shear stress may play a role in improving NK cell function by decreasing oxidative stress. The relationship between shear stress and NK cell count and function can be tested by utilizing exercise and local heating with cuff inflation. If shear stress does play an important role, NK cell count and function will be improved in the non-cuffed exercise group, but not the cuffed limb. This paper will explore the mechanisms potentially explaining exercise-induced improvements in NK cell count and function, and propose a model for investigating these mechanisms. This mechanistic insight could aid in providing a novel, safe, relatively inexpensive, and non-invasive target for immunotherapy in cancer patients.
癌症患者的预后呈阳性，包括复发事件时间延长，这与自然杀伤 (NK) 细胞数量和功能的增加有关。NK 细胞计数和功能在急性运动后升高，而普遍接受的募集机制表明，肾上腺素结合通过随后粘附分子的减少将 NK 细胞从内皮组织中释放出来。我提出，血流诱导的切应力也可能通过减少氧化应激来在 NK 细胞从内皮招募中发挥作用。此外，切应力通过减少氧化应激在改善 NK 细胞功能方面发挥作用。可以通过利用运动和袖带充气进行局部加热来测试切应力与 NK 细胞计数和功能之间的关系。如果切应力确实起重要作用，那么非袖带运动组的 NK 细胞计数和功能将得到改善，但袖带肢体不会。本文将探讨可能解释运动引起的 NK 细胞计数和功能改善的机制，并提出一种研究这些机制的模型。这种机制上的见解可能有助于为癌症患者的免疫治疗提供一种新颖、安全、相对便宜且非侵入性的新靶点。
