Voluntary exercise does not always suppress lung cancer progression

Aurelia C Leimbacher; Philipp Villiger; Nina Desboeufs; Mostafa A Aboouf; Monica Nanni; Julia Armbruster; Hyrije Ademi; Pascal Flüchter; Maja Ruetten; Felix Gantenbein; Thomas J Haider; Max Gassmann; Markus Thiersch

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107298

Voluntary exercise does not always suppress lung cancer progression

iScience. 2023 Jul 10;26(8):107298. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107298. eCollection 2023 Aug 18.

Authors

Aurelia C Leimbacher¹, Philipp Villiger¹, Nina Desboeufs¹, Mostafa A Aboouf^{1

2

3

4}, Monica Nanni¹, Julia Armbruster¹, Hyrije Ademi¹, Pascal Flüchter⁵, Maja Ruetten⁶, Felix Gantenbein⁷, Thomas J Haider¹, Max Gassmann^{1

2}, Markus Thiersch^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Veterinary Physiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
² Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology (ZIHP), University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
³ Center for Clinical Studies, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11566, Egypt.
⁵ Institute of Physiology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁶ PathoVet AG, Pathology Diagnostic Laboratory, 8317 Tagelswangen ZH, Switzerland.
⁷ Zurich Integrative Rodent Physiology (ZIRP), University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.

Abstract

Physical exercise can lower lung cancer incidence. However, its effect on lung cancer progression is less understood. Studies on exercising mice have shown decreased ectopic lung cancer growth through the secretion of interleukin-6 from muscles and the recruitment of natural killer (NK) cells to tumors. We asked if exercise suppresses lung cancer in an orthotopic model also. Single-housed C57Bl/6 male mice in cages with running wheels were tail vein-injected with LLC1.1 lung cancer cells, and lung tumor nodules were analyzed. Exercise did not affect lung cancer. Therefore, we also tested the effect of exercise on a subcutaneous LLC1 tumor and a tail vein-injected B16F10 melanoma model. Except for one case of excessive exercise, tumor progression was not influenced. Moderately exercising mice did not increase IL-6 or recruit NK cells to the tumor. Our data suggest that the exercise dose may dictate how efficiently the immune system is stimulated and controls tumor progression.

Keywords: Cancer; Immunology.