Effects of 10 week continuous endurance training on angiopoietin-1 gene expression and the tie2 protein in mice with breast cancer

Background: Angiogenesis plays a critical role in tumor growth; on the other hand, regular exercise training plays an important role in tumor growth inhibition in breast cancer patients. Due to the key role of angiopoietin-1 and tie2 protein in the angiogenesis of tumor, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of continuous endurance training on angiopoietin-1 gene expression and the tie2 protein in mice with breast cancer.

Methods: Twelve BALB/c mice were cancerous (subcutaneous injection of MC4-L2 to right side), and randomly were assigned into two control without activity (n=6) and continuous endurance training (n=6) groups. Each exercise session consisted of 60 minutes of running at 60-65% VO2max intensity, which was performed five days a week for 10 weeks. 24 hours after the last training session, mice were killed and tumor tissue was separated, and then angiopoitin-1 gene expression was measured by Real-Time PCR method. Also tie2 protein was measured by western blot method.

Results: Continuous endurance training significantly decreased angiopoitin-1 gene expression (p=0.001) and protein tie2 (p=0.001) than to control group. Also, tumor size significantly was lesser in the endurance training than control group after 10 week exercise training (p=0.011).

Conclusion: Continuous endurance training in mice with breast cancer can inhibit some of the factors angiogenesis and indirectly have positive impact on the breast cancer inhibition, and this type of training can be used as a method therapeutic for breast cancer.