In a recent study, researchers found that having strong muscles in the body may help improve the effectiveness of cancer treatment and help people live longer.
They found that muscle loss is strongly linked to a poor response to a new treatment for late-stage lung cancer.
The study was conducted by a group of Japanese researchers.
Previous research has shown that the new cancer treatment can work with a cancer patient’s own immune system and increase its ability to attack tumor cells.
This type of new treatment has been used to fight many cancers, including late-stage lung cancer.
However, the problem is that only some patients can have good outcomes in the treatment, and it has been unknown why this would happen.
In the current study, the team aimed to find out the reason.
They tested if muscle strength could play a role because muscle degradation had been linked to a weaker immune system.
The team examined the medical records and treatment outcomes of 42 patients who had advanced lung cancer.
These patients received new cancer treatment. Their skeletal muscle mass was measured prior to treatment.
The researchers found in patients with muscle loss, the treatment outcomes were much worse than people with normal muscle strength.
Almost 40% of patients with normal muscle mass remained in remission 1 year after treatment.
On the contrary, only 10% of patients with muscle loss showed no sign of tumor progression at the same time point.
This finding suggests that muscle strength could influence the effect of cancer treatment. Strong muscles may ensure cancer treatment efficacy.
The researchers suggest that muscle strength can be a tool to predict whether the new cancer treatment will be effective on a patient.
They also suggest that muscle loss is common in patients with advanced cancer.
These patients need to increase their muscle mass to get the best outcomes of future treatment.
The study lead author is Takayuki Shiroyama from Osaka University.
The research is published in Scientific Reports.
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