To explore the effect of physical training on metastasis formation and outgrowth in liver and lung.

Restore Health and Extend life are two of the main Medtronic missions. This corresponds completely with the strategic and societal focus the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) declared in 2006: Healthy aging. Exploring the effect of physical activity on metastasis formation and outgrowth clearly reflects these goals in the recently started collaboration.

Recently, the IKNL [the Dutch institute for oncological research and practice] revealed that the prognosis of metastasised cancer patients barely made any progress in the last decade. This research project may give insight in possible mechanisms in metastasising disease and give leads for improving prognosis of these patients.

In this research proposal, they are interested in the effect of physical training on the development and structure of metastases. For this, this project perform translational research using metastases models in mice. Metastases will be induced by tumor cell injection in portal vein (liver metastases) or tail vein (lung metastases) in all mice. Next, one group of mice will undergo physical exercise (training group) while the other will not undergo physical exercise (control group). Physical exercise will be performed by placing a running wheel in the cage of the mice. It is known that mice will run approximately 8-10 kilometers daily in their running wheel, voluntary! The extent of metastases formation and outgrowth in liver or lungs will be examined using special imaging techniques and histological analyses.