Precancer exercise capacity and metabolism during tumor development coordinate the skeletal muscle–tumor metabolic competition

What is it about?

The researchers found that giving mice access to voluntary aerobic exercise — in this case, running wheels - slows the growth of tumors. How does it work? When the mice exercised, their skeletal muscle and heart muscle consumed more glucose, leaving less glucose available for the tumors to “feed” on. As a result, tumors grew more slowly. Moreover, the shift in metabolism appears to involve more than just reduced “fuel” for the tumor: the authors observed changes at the molecular level (e.g. in gene-expression and metabolic pathways) suggesting that exercise not only redirects nutrients, but also changes how tumors process glucose — further limiting their growth. In simpler terms: regular aerobic exercise can “starve” tumors by re-routing key metabolic resources (like glucose) to healthy muscle and heart tissue. This makes tumors less able to grow, offering an explanation for how exercise may slow cancer progression.

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Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash

Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our work suggests that voluntary exercise - in other words, just what the mice wanted to do - makes a difference in re-routing metabolism in a beneficial way. Often patients will ask "How much exercise should I do?" or "What type of exercise should I do?" Our data would suggest that a good goal may be increasing walks around the block, and that training for a marathon isn't necessary.