Vigorous exercise could act as a ‘protective shield’ against metastatic cancer | health and wellness

Last November, the prestigious scientific magazine Cancer research dedicated its cover to a study conducted by researchers from Tel Aviv University (Israel). Choosing this research, which describes the relevance of exercise in the fight against cancer, as the cover story was not trivial. Scientific evidence has long demonstrated the important impact that physical exercise has in preventing the onset of certain types of cancer, as well as in improving tolerance to treatments and in the quality of life of patients when they have already been diagnosed with cancer. However, the research, led by Carmit Levy, from the Department of Human Genetics and Biochemistry at Tel Aviv University, and by Yftach Gepner, from the Israeli University’s School of Public Health, goes further and demonstrates the significant impact that exercise can have intense physical activity in preventing the appearance of metastases, responsible for 90% of cancer deaths.

“Studies have shown that exercise reduces the risk of some cancers by up to 35%. This positive effect is similar to the impact of exercise on other conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes. In this study we add new knowledge, demonstrating that high-intensity aerobic exercise, which gets its energy from sugar, can reduce the risk of metastatic cancer by up to 72%”, explains Yftach Gepner by email to EL PAÍS.

The study by Tel Aviv University researchers combined data from an epidemiological study that followed nearly 3,000 healthy people for two decades with data from an animal model (mice) that was trained with a rigorous exercise regimen. . Both findings were consistent: Participants who reported regular high-intensity aerobic activity — defined as activity that brings the heart to 80% of its maximum rate, such as running, cycling or walking uphill — had a 70% lower chance of developing metastatic cancer than those who did not exercise.

“During the study we took samples of the animals’ internal organs before and after exercise, and also after the cancer injection, and found that aerobic activity significantly reduces the development of metastatic tumors in the lymph nodes, lungs and in the liver,” says Gepner. , who adds that this evidence led them to speculate that this favorable outcome in both mice and humans was related to a higher rate of exercise-induced glucose consumption.

“By examining the cells of these organs, we observed an increase in the number of glucose receptors during high-intensity aerobic activity. Organs increased their glucose intake and became effective energy-consuming machines, just like muscles in their functioning. We assume that this happens because the organs have to compete for sugar resources with the muscles. As a result, if cancer develops, the fierce competition for glucose reduces the availability of energy needed for metastases,” argues the scientist.

“Relevant” evidence.

The hypothesis put forward by researchers at Tel Aviv University is not new. “We know that the lack of nutrient availability for the tumor affects the metabolic reprogramming of the tissues, because in this reprogramming the interaction with the tumor cells is less,” says Luis Paz-Ares, head of the hospital’s medical oncology service. 12 de Octubre of the University of Madrid and president of the Spanish Association for Cancer Research (ASEICA), who believes that the study demonstrates that if the tumor microenvironment is altered due to exercise-induced increased metabolic demands Finally, this same exercise can translate into a sort of “protective shield” that protects against the development of metastatic cancer.

Less optimistic is Miguel Ángel Seguí, coordinator of the Exercise and Cancer working group of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), who believes that the research results, despite being “very interesting”, do not have a clear translation into current recommendations or application immediate. “These results are what we call hypothesis generators and, therefore, will have to be validated in new studies”, says the oncologist, who invites us to take the data and hypotheses proposed by the authors “with great caution”: “The proposal in the study is one of the various hypotheses that are being worked on in this field, but it must be considered that, with absolute certainty, there is not a single mechanism that explains the effect of physical exercise on cancer prevention, but that there are certainly several simultaneous mechanisms, which can also be more or less important depending on the type of tumor we are talking about”, he argues.

“Is this evidence enough to spread to all types of patients and all types of cancer? That would be saying too much, but it’s true that it presents relevant data and, with the knowledge we already have, helps strengthen the evidence for common-sense recommendations like exercise to prevent cancer,” says Paz-Ares.

Of the same opinion is Yftach Gepner, who believes that the results of the study suggest that healthy people should also include high-intensity components in their exercise routines. “We believe future studies will enable the development of personalized medicine to prevent specific cancers, with doctors looking at patients’ family histories to recommend the right type of physical activity,” explains Gepner, who finally emphasizes that exercise, due to its unique metabolic and physiological effects, it “shows a higher level of cancer prevention than any drug or medical intervention to date.”

It is an idea defended by Miguel Ángel Seguí, while clarifying that there is no need to convey the idea that physical exercise is a medicinal which can replace other oncological treatments: «It must be considered a complementary treatment to all the others, which clearly contributes to improving health outcomes and quality of life», he concludes.

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