ArticleFrontiers in immunology2025
Distinct NK cell function and gene expression in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in remission before and after acute exercise: an exploratory study.
Article in Frontiers in immunology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Exercise intervention for children with acute leukemia: a best evidence summary.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Pooled it
- Physical activity levels and influencing factors among children with leukemia during chemotherapy: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
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Abstract
Background: Brief bouts of exercise mobilize natural killer (NK) cells and influence their function and gene expression in adults. However, little is known about these effects in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in remission. This study investigated the effect of acute exercise on NK gene expression and cytotoxic activity (NKCA) in children with ALL in remission. Methods: Nine B-cell ALL children in remission and 9 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (14.8 ± 1 and 15 ± 1 y/o, respectively; 2 girls per group) performed an acute exercise session consisting of eight 2-min bouts of cycle ergometry at 60% of peak work rate (71 ± 2% of peak oxygen uptake) interspersed with 1-min rest intervals. Circulating NK-cell gene expression profile (RNA-seq) and NKCA ( Results: At baseline, 284 genes were differently expressed in children with ALL compared to controls, and 179 genes were differently altered by acute exercise in the ALL group (p<0.01). At baseline, nine gene pathways related to NK cell function were affected, while following exercise, 28 pathways associated with inflammatory response and cancer were impacted (FDR<0.05). NKCA following IL-2 stimulation was lower both at baseline (p<0.05) and after exercise (p=0.09) in ALL compared to controls. The impaired activity was partially mitigated following exercise but remained lower in ALL compared to controls. Conclusions: Acute exercise may improve NK cell function in ALL children in remission and has the potential to be used as adjunctive therapy in ALL. The differential gene expression response to exercise suggests that NK cells in ALL may adopt a different molecular strategy to fight infections or tumors.
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