The local effect of exercise-induced myokines on skeletal muscle – but the effects go much further…
For some time we’ve known that regular walking slows the growth of cancer. But researchers from Edith Cowan University in Australia say they’ve worked out why.
It’s all about myokines, which are a protein produced in our muscles and then released into our blood when we exercise.
The researchers tested the blood of obese patients with prostate cancer before and after three months of exercise. After the three-month period they found more myokines in their blood, and these samples were much better at fighting prostate cancer cells than the previous ones.
The scientists say that as well as slowing the growth rate of tumours, myokines help kill cancer cells by telling our immune cells to attack them. They also believe these benefits apply to fighting all cancers, not just prostate cancer.
