Resistance Exercise to Mitigate Cancer Cachexia: Molecular Mechanisms and Practical Applications

Background: Fifty-eighty percent of all cancer patients are afflicted by cancer cachexia and 20 percent die due to cancer cachexia. Purpose: From this narr-ative review, I will make a case for utilizing resistance exercise training from a molecular mechanistic standpoint and provide insight in how it can be used in a hospital setting. Method: PubMed Search and review of the literature. Discussion: The loss of about 9 percent of lean body mass is related to lower survival in metastatic colorectal cancer. Chemotherapy is also related to muscle mass loss. Resistance exercise training increases muscle protein synthesis and net muscle protein balance towards anabolism in healthy volunteers. Resistance exercise has shown to reduce the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines from monocytes and reduce toll-like receptor-4 expression on monocytes. Resistance exercise training has been shown to reduce lean body mass losses and improve function in cancer patients. Conclusion: All in all, resistance exercise training has been shown to alter molecular mechanisms that lead to muscle protein gains and is an effective means to improve function and reduce lean body mass losses in cancer with few side effects.