Complain about a product or service

Exercise May Speed Prostate Tumor Growth

Findings don't mean men should stop exercising

April 15, 2008

• Celebrex-Lipitor Combo May Halt Prostate Cancer • Exercise May Speed Prostate Tumor Growth • Soy Compound May Halt Spread of Prostate Cancer • Obesity Linked to Higher Prostate Cancer Mortality • Red Wine May Fight Prostate Cancer • Enlarged Prostate Doesn't Mean Cancer • Hopkins Researchers Claim Better Blood Test for Prostate Cancer • Severe Form of Enlarged Prostate Disease Discovered • Tomato-Broccoli Combo Can Help Shrink Prostate Cancers • Weight Gain Increases Risk of Dying from Prostate Cancer • Smoking Linked to Complications in Prostate Cancer Treatment • Newer Approach Urged in Screening for Aggressive Prostate Cancer • Aspirin May Prevent or Delay Enlarged Prostate • Hopkins Researchers Find Better Blood Test for Prostate Cancer • Prostate Radiation May Cause Problems Later • New Test Detects Prostate Cancer Spread Earlier • Castration May Be Advised in Advanced Prostate Cancer • Radiation Therapy May Be Best for Younger Prostate Cancer Patients • Study Recommends More Prostate Biopsies • Delayed Surgery May Be OK for Some Prostate Cancer Patients • Study: PSA Test Doesn't Improve Prostate Cancer Survival Rate • Prostate Cancer Genes Identified • Annual Prostate Cancer Screening Test Appears to Save Lives • FDA Panel Rejects Prostate Cancer Pill • PSA Test Still Useful, Hopkins Study Finds • No "Normal" PSA Level: Study • New Prostate Cancer Test Shows Promise • Lifestyle and Diet May Stop or Reverse Prostate Cancer Progression

Prostate tumors grew more quickly in mice that exercised than in that who did not, leading to speculation that exercise may increase blood flow to tumors, according to a new study by researchers in the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center (DCCC) and the Duke Prostate Center.

The findings don't mean men should stop exercising, but they may lead researchers to develop new ways to deliver cancer-fighting chemicals directly to the prostate.

“Our study showed that exercise led to significantly greater tumor growth than a more sedentary lifestyle did, in this mouse model,” said Lee Jones, Ph.D., a researcher in the DCCC and senior investigator on this study. “Our thought is that we may, in the future, be able to use this finding to design better drug delivery models to more effectively treat prostate cancer patients, and those with other types of cancer as well.”

The researchers implanted prostate tumors subcutaneously in the flanks of 50 mice and then put half of the mice in cages with exercise wheels and half in cages with no wheels. All mice were fed the same diet. On average, the exercising mice ran more than half a mile each day.

“We found that among the mice that had the opportunity to voluntarily exercise, tumors grew approximately twice as fast as they did among the mice that did not have the opportunity to exercise,” Jones said.

Researchers and clinicians know that a challenge in delivering chemotherapy and radiation to tumors can be their poor blood flow, so these findings may hint at a way in which to improve blood flow to tumors, perhaps then allowing for better distribution of medicine, he said.

“We’re wondering, can we combine exercise with treatments such as chemotherapy, hormone therapy or radiation, to maximize the results we achieve in prostate cancer patients,” Jones said. “That question will be the subject of subsequent studies.”

The researchers are currently conducting a validation study, in mice, in which tumors are injected directly into the prostate, thereby better simulating human prostate cancer, Jones said.

“Down the line, we will test this hypothesis in humans undergoing medical treatment for prostate cancer,” he said.

The researchers want to caution men against interpreting these findings as an endorsement for not exercising for fear of getting or exacerbating cancer.

“These mice were not receiving treatment and we were allowing aggressive tumors to grow unchecked for the sake of the experiment,” said study investigator Freedland, a urologist at Duke. “Patients would not find themselves in the same situation.”

Concerns should also be overridden by the well-established benefits of exercise, including its positive effects on cardiovascular health, Type II diabetes, obesity, and many other chronic conditions, he said.

“This study gives us insight into which cellular pathways are affected by exercise, and starts to give us clues about how to harness the beneficial effects,” said Michael Potter, a medical student at Duke and lead investigator on the study. “Ultimately, we hope that this knowledge will help us use exercise to both deliver medicines more effectively and protect the body from the harmful side effects of treatment, as we already know it can.”

This is one of the first studies to look at the physiological effects of exercise on the tumor itself, rather than examining the quality-of-life or symptom-control effects of exercise in cancer patients, Jones said.

“The findings were a bit surprising, but provide a very important and exciting foundation upon which to build,” he said.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top |