Maintaining a regular physical activity aggravates intramuscular tumor growth in an orthotopic liposarcoma model

Today, care teams within cancer centers encourage patients to be physically active, after diagnosis, based on data obtained mainly from breast, colon and prostate cancer. Intriguingly, the impact of physical activity (PA) on intramuscular tumors (e.g. sarcomas) has not been specifically addressed and, thus, could be mistakenly confounded with other cancers. In this preclinical study we assessed the impact of PA on intramuscular liposarcoma (LS) evolution. Four-week-old nude male mice were active by voluntary running on wheels, for six weeks. Then, mice were divided into four groups with open or restricted access to wheels, which have received an orthotopic intramuscular injection of either vehicle or human LS, SW872, cells. Active mice presented ~1.5 fold increase in tumor mass, which was mainly due to higher cellular mitosis and proliferation. This bulging intramuscular tumor mass altered muscle function, as evidence by overall muscle strength and maximum running capacity. From a molecular point of view, active mice exhibited poor levels of Phospho-p38^{Thr180/Tyr182} and p21 content in tumors and also displayed low amounts of circulating insulin comparing to inactive counterparts. Insulin induced Phospho-p38^{Thr180/Tyr182} and p21 expression in SW872 cells, in vitro. The expression of p21 was regulated in a p38-dependent fashion, since inhibition of p38 activity abolished the up-regulation of p21. Our data suggest that insulin-dependent activation of p38 MAPK-p21 pathway is a possible mechanism responsible for delaying tumor growth in inactive mice. Clinically, patients with lower-extremities LS could be advised to reduce or minimize their levels of PA during the preoperative period.