A single bout of vigorous intensity exercise enhances the efficacy of rituximab against autologous human chronic lymphocytic leukaemia B-cells ex vivo

Brain Behav Immun. 2024 Mar 17:S0889-1591(24)00304-0. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2024.03.023. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTChronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is characterised by the clonal proliferation and accumulation of mature B-cells and is often treated with rituximab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody immunotherapy. Rituximab often fails to induce stringent disease eradication, due in part to failure of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity which relies on natural killer (NK)-cells binding to rituximab-bound CD20 on B-cells. CLL cells are diffusely spread across lymphoid and other bodily tissues, and ADCC resistance in survival niches may be due to several factors including low NK-cell frequency and a suppressive stromal environment that promotes CLL cell survival. It is well established that exercise bouts induce a transient relocation of NK-cells and B-cells into peripheral blood, which could be harnessed to enhance the efficacy of rituximab in CLL by relocating both target and effector cells together with rituximab in blood. In this pilot study, n = 20 patients with treatment-naïve CLL completed a bout of cycling 15 % above their anaerobic threshold for ∼ 30-minutes, with blood samples collected pre-, immediately post-, and 1-hour post-exercise. Flow cytometry revealed that exercise evoked a 254 % increase in effector (CD3-CD56+CD16+) NK-cells in blood, respectively, and a 67 % increase in CD5+CD19+CD20+ CLL cells in blood (all p < 0.005). NK-cells were isolated fr...
Source: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity - Category: Neurology Authors: Source Type: research