GORILLA RAISING MONEY FOR CANCER CHARITY EXERCISE AND CANCER SERIES

by David Hoffmann MExerMed (Oncology), BSpExSc.

BY SAMANTHA ELLEY

For the past 38 years, Woodburn resident Paul Stanley-Jones has looked forward to one particular day of the year.

On this day, he and his brother, Rob and son, Harry don gorilla suits and run in Sydney’s annual City 2 Surf fun run, navigating the streets of the inner city all the way out to Bondi Beach.

“This year we are in the Charity Superstars division and we are raising funds for the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse charity,” said Paul.

When Rob was diagnosed with testicular cancer back in 2006, Chris was his surgeon and Paul said doing the fun run to raise funds for the late doctor’s charity was a great way of giving back.

Originally, Paul and Rob ran the race with their father, but after he passed away, the gauntlet was transferred to the next generation and Harry is now an honorary gorilla.

“Being in the Charity Superstars division is the best thing we can do as normally we would start in the yellow pack, which is the second last to go, usually an hour and twenty minutes after the main gun,” said Paul.

“This year, we will be the third gun to go and by the time we fnish the race, we will have done 26kms of the 14km track.

“That’s because we stop and sing with bands along the way, play the drums, dance with people. It’s a great day.”

It is not just a race for Paul and his family.

“It’s the best day of my year,” he laughed.

“There’s 18 of us from the family who get together and we stay at a hostel in Bondi reserved for us.

“We have a big catch up and Mum still comes.”

The ‘gorillas’ will be up at 4.30am and get to Town Hall by 6.30am, in their suits, just quietly.

The rest of the family follow an hour later and at the sound of the gun, the adrenaline and the fun begin.

If you would like to help a gorilla raise money for their chosen charity, visit the link below. https://city2surf23. grassrootz.com/ mylifehouse/paulstanley-jones or scan the QR code above.

To know more about the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse charity visit mylifehouse. org.au

Welcome to the second article in the series on exercise and its positive effects on cancer and treatment. Last week I explained what cancer is and its hallmarks, how activity mediates several cancer cell hallmarks (reduces tumour growth, possible metastasis, and increases the possibility of apoptosis), and what effective doses of exercise are. In this article, we will look at additional hallmarks of cancer that are affected by activity, how exercise mediates possible side effects of treatment, and how muscle quality and volume contribute to the effcacy of treatments and prognosis. How exercise helps stop cancer cells from evading our natural growth suppressors Our cancer risk is a balance between tumour suppression genes and oncogenes. The suppressor gene inhibits tumour growth and development. In contrast, an oncogene gene is defective in some way and is likely to signal the growth of a cancer cell. The defect of a gene can occur in many ways, but more on that in the future. Genes are constructed of DNA from the pairs of chromosomes (23 from each parent) we inherit. A simple way to understand this is to think of a recipe with the chromosome, the name of the food we aim to cook, and the DNA are the written words in the step to the fnal product, whilst our gene is the outcome of each step. The gene then plays a specifc role in the favour of that recipe. Think of the oncogene as a step with incorrect wording with the outcome changing the recipe’s favour (incorrectly).

If we look at breast cancer as an example, the breast cancer type 1 gene (BRCA 1) is a tumour suppression gene protein. If this is under expressed, there may not be an inhibiting effect on the growth of a defective cell. Underexpression increases the risk of breast cancer. BRCA 1 protein attaches to a receptor outside of a cell and stops the growth if it is defective. Overexpression of an oncogene, such as the epidermal growth factor receptor gene (EGFR), can increase the growth of tumours. How does exercise change this process?

Acute and chronic exercise in many studies has increased the expression of proteins that decrease the effect of oncogenes like EGFR and increases the expression of tumour suppression genes like BRCA 1. Exercise changes our internal environment making it less favourable for a tumour to live and grow. Can exercise mediate the side effects of cancer treatment?

Fatigue is a signifcant issue in cancer patients and survivors, with almost 70% experiencing the effects. During treatment, it can cause patients to miss or reduce treatments, reducing effectiveness. Cancer related fatigue (CRF) is also related to higher rates of depression, anxiety and poorer outcomes in health related quality of life for patients. When a cancer patient or survivor is at their wit’s end, can barely get out of bed, and is told to exercise, what would their response be?

A meta analysis of CRF examining exercise methods showed that a combination of resistance exercise and cardiovascular had the most signifcant effect on fatigue in patients and cancer survivors, with no detrimental effect. The mechanisms were positive psychosocial effects, mastery of exercise effects, improved physical function, and improved self effcacy. ThisThe mechanisms improved all aspects of a persons health related quality of life.

How muscle quality and volume infuence cancer treatments Little do people know that improved volume and quality of muscle can lead to improved effcacy of treatments such as chemotherapy. There are multiple side effects due to increased toxicity while undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

Chemotherapy dosage is often calculated on the surface area of our body, meaning that a larger person will receive a higher dose. Chemotherapy drugs work on the most vascularised areas of the body. Areas such as our skeletal muscle attract a high volume of drugs. Toxicity increases when larger dosages accumulate in smaller muscle volumes, causing many side effects. Suppose a patient is obese, has low muscle quality and volume, and receives a larger dosage due to the increased surface area compared to a person who is smaller and has a higher quality and volume of lean muscle. In that case, chances are the toxicity will be higher in an obese person. Ultimately this can lead to reduced or ceased treatments reducing the plan’s effectiveness. Lower muscle volumes and quality are also related to poorer prognosis in most cancer types and treatments.

Conclusion

Exercise does not cure cancer, it only has a positive effect as an adjuvant with treatment and as a mediator to the side effects of treatments.

The next article will discuss more hallmarks that can beneft from exercise, how exercise during survivorship can ameliorate effects of androgen deprivation therapy, and where to start if you are looking to begin an exercise program.