effect of six months of aerobic exercise on plasma interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha as breast cancer risk factors in postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial

conclusions we suggest that regular aerobic exercise can favorably alter the inflammatory profile, which is a known risk factor in breast cancer development, in postmenopausal women. patients and methods this study was a randomized controlled trial. we randomly assigned 41 postmenopausal, sedentary women aged 50 to 74 to either an exercise or a control group. the intervention involved facility-based aerobic exercise (three days/week, at 70 - 80% of the maximum heart rate, for six months). results twenty-seven women completed the study. the plasma il-6 level decreased by 21.3% in the exercisers and by 6.9% in the controls, and the intervention effect was significant (p = 0.001). the plasma tnf-α level decreased by 17.1% and 10.8% in the exercisers and controls, respectively, although the effect of exercise was not statistically significant (p = 0.28). overall, long-term aerobic exercise may result in a decreased il-6 concentration. background increased physical activity is associated with a reduction in the risk of breast cancer; however, the exact mechanism of the reduction is not yet completely known. objectives this study aimed to investigate the effect of six months of aerobic exercise on the plasma interleukin (il)-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (tnf-α) levels as breast cancer risk factors in postmenopausal women.