Remarkable Discovery Shows Exercise May Stop Cancer Growth

Oct, 2021 - By WMR

A new research found that exercise provokes skeletal muscle to generate proteins known as myokines that slows down tumor growth.

Cancer is one of the foremost causes of deaths in all around the world. There are various types of treatments for the disease. However, a team of scientists at Edith Cowan University, Australia, found a new way to treat cancer. The study published in the journal of medicine and science in sports and exercise on September 20, 2021 shows that one way exercise can help to suppress cancer tumor growth as exercising induces skeletal muscles to release a protein known as myokines that help to battle cancer cells.

It is a well-known fact that cancer patients who exercise often usually get better results from treatments compared to the patients who do not exercise. Yet the direct effect of exercise on cancer it unclear. In this study, the scientists examined 10 subjects with prostate cancer who underwent regular exercise training along with their traditional treatment for 12 weeks. The exercise training included, muscle building exercises and aerobic, and patients were also given a calorie-controlled diet and protein supplements. Also, the subjects gave blood samples before starting the training and after the end of the training program. The study focused mainly on investigating the changes in levels of myokines in the blood. Myokines proteins help to keep numerous body functions healthy. The scientists, took the before and after exercise blood samples of the subjects and placed them over living prostate cancer cell.

As results, the cancer cells were significantly suppressed from the post-exercise blood, which clearly indicates that exercising produces such environment in the body where cancer cells get suppressed and tumor growth slows down. According to the scientists, this finding should be applicable for all types of cancer, as the study focused mainly on prostate cancer. The study needs more work to have a better understanding of exercise provoked myokine proteins and their effect on advanced-stage prostate cancer.