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04.10.2022

Lactic acid helps the body clear up tumors

Men with prostate cancer can slow down the course of their disease if they engage in interval training, we wrote in 2017. At that time, we did not fully understand how interval training could have that effect. But now, after reading a fascinating animal study in Nature Communications, the penny has dropped. Lactic acid, a metabolite that is released in large quantities during interval and circuit training, has an anti-cancer effect.

Study
In 2021, pharmacologists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center published an article in which they experimented with mice. Prior to those tests, they had introduced MC38 colon cancer cells into the mice.

The researchers actually wanted to know whether they could fight these cancer cells with immunotherapy and whether immunotherapy was more effective in combination with injections of lactic acid. However, part of their article also describes experiments that did not involve immunotherapy. For example, the figure below shows the effect of lactic acid injections [Lac] on the size of the tumors. Some of the mice received injections of glucose [Glc].

The researchers administered their injections daily. The mice were given 1.68 sodium lactate per kilogram of body weight.

Results
Lactic acid inhibited the growth of the tumors.

Mechanism
The cancer-inhibiting effect of lactic acid was absent if the mice had no CD8+ T cells. These are immune cells that can attack tumors. In other experiments, in which the researchers gave mice antibodies in addition to lactate, the researchers found that by administering lactic acid, more immune cells were able to penetrate the tumors. In addition, lactic acid kept the immune cells fit longer.

Conclusion
We previously wrote about the protective effect of strength training against cancer. Strength training releases inflammatory proteins that help immune cells to kill cancer cells. Links to these posts can be found below.

Source:
Nat Commun. 2022 Sep 6;13(1):4981.

More:
A lifestyle that simultaneously makes you leaner and fitter protects against cancer 05.09.2018
When combined with other exercise, strength training boosts survival chances of cancer survivors 20.12.2017
Interval training slows down prostate cancer 23.09.2017

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