I read about an interesting study yesterday conducted by a group who had evaluated the effects of Tai Chi exercises on the T helper cell activity of patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. The sample size was small, only 30 patients with the disease and 30 without, but it was the results that caught my attention.
After just a 12 week program, the group found that glycated hemoglobin levels (the new gold-standard test for diabetes) fell from 7.59% to 7.16% in diabetic patients. T cells are a key component of the body’s immune system, so researchers also evaluated the effects of the exercise on the immune system. (Previous studies have evaluated possible immune -originated Type 2 diabetes). Results showed that levels of interleukin 12 (which boosts the immune response) doubled, and levels of interleukin 4 (which suppresses the immune response) decreased.

The study concluded that the exercise “may prompt a fall in blood glucose levels, or improve blood glucose metabolism, sparking a drop in inflammatory response.”
This is not a push for Tai Chi. I’m not here to lecture anyone about exercise. In this case, however, it had already been known that strenuous exercise or activity suppressed the immune system. What was surprising is that this study showed that moderate activity did not.—thus leaving me to wonder what else about the body’s response to patient-controlled factors may help or hinder treatment.

The study demonstrates how one factor, exercise, may improve not only physical conditions such as muscular strength and mobility, but may also affect cellular functionality. How many studies like these, involving the workings of T cells, have been shared with pharma researchers?

So far, what we have heard that personalized medicine seems to be a forward-thinking goal for the industry and that personalized medicine has focusd primarily on genotypes. Will the drive toward personalized medicine take lifestyle choices such as exercise and environment (studies have also been done on diabetic patients living in high altitudes) into account? Shouldn’t a truly personalized medicine be based on more than DNA?