Exercise could help reduce severity of serious cancer complication

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/947467

 

 News Release 3-Apr-2022
Mice that exercised before developing cancer showed slower tumor growth and better heart function
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Experimental Biology

 

A new study has identified yet another benefit of keeping up your exercise routine. In experiments performed with mice, researchers found that exercising prior to developing cancer was associated with slower tumor growth and helped reduce the effects of a cancer complication known as wasting syndrome, or cachexia.

 

Cachexia is a metabolic wasting disorder that affects up to 80% of patients with advanced cancer and is associated with about a third of all deaths from cancer. People with cachexia experience severe progressive muscle wasting, a decline in heart structure and function and an overall poorer quality of life.

-----

 Previous research has shown that exercise could have anti-inflammatory effects and might positively impact cancer cachexia by slowing its development and preserving cardiac structure and function. However, very few studies have focused on preconditioning.

 

“Our preclinical study indicated that preconditioning — or exercise prior to tumor bearing —   appears to play an important cardioprotective role during cancer cachexia by preserving cardiac structure and function,” said Tichy. “It also helped stunt tumor growth, even when animals did not exercise during the tumor-bearing period.”

-----

The researchers found that mice with cancer and a sedentary lifestyle had poorer heart function — as measured with echocardiography — than the mice that exercised prior to cancer induction. Also, mice in the exercised group had a smaller tumor volume and a 60% smaller tumor mass than mice in the sedentary group.

-----