Exercise is widely recognized for its health benefits, including reducing the risk of cancer and heart disease.
However, the molecular mechanisms behind how exercise may prevent or slow cancer have remained unclear.
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sheds light on how exercise affects glucose and oxygen uptake, potentially starving tumors of fuel.
Researchers injected mice with breast cancer cells and provided some with a high-fat diet (HFD).
A subset of these mice had access to running wheels for voluntary exercise. Using isotope tracer studies, scientists observed that after 4 weeks, exercised mice had tumors nearly 60% smaller than those in non-exercising obese mice.
These mice also had more lean mass, less fat mass, and glucose and insulin levels similar to lean sedentary controls. A single session of treadmill exercise significantly increased glucose uptake in heart and muscle tissue while reducing tumor glucose uptake.
Exercise also reduced tumor size in obese mice with melanoma, a cancer type not usually worsened by obesity. Tumor glucose uptake and oxidation dropped in these mice, indicating that exercise-driven metabolic shifts benefit different tumor types.
Mice that exercised before tumor injection—’prehabilitation’—also saw improved outcomes, likely due to better body composition and fitness levels early on.
Beyond glucose diversion, researchers identified 417 genes related to metabolism that were differently expressed in exercised versus sedentary mice. Downregulation of mTOR, a protein involved in cell growth, and altered amino acid usage may also help restrict tumor growth.
Human gene expression data from breast cancer patients and exercise studies showed similar changes—upregulation in genes related to glutamine and leucine transport. While the data are limited, the similarity in metabolic pathways across species suggests a potential link between exercise and tumor suppression in humans.
This study supports exercise as a promising adjunct therapy for cancer. By redistributing glucose to muscles and changing how the body uses nutrients, exercise may help slow tumor growth.
More research in humans is needed, but integrating fitness into cancer treatment plans and using exercise as prehabilitation could improve outcomes and guide future therapies.
If you care about cancer, please read studies that a low-carb diet could increase overall cancer risk, and berry that can prevent cancer, diabetes, and obesity.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how drinking milk affects the risks of heart disease and cancer and results showing vitamin D supplements could strongly reduce cancer death.
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