From April 8th - 11th, Robinson College in Cambridge housed the 33rd Genes and Cancer Annual Meeting, where NFRG principal investigator Dr. Caroline Wilson gave a talk entitled:

Exercise improves age-related inflammation, liver disease and cancer

Abstract

Age-related chronic liver disease can be modelled in the Nfkb1-/- mouse which spontaneouslydevelops systemic low-grade inflammation including formation of hepatic ectopic lymphoid structures (ELS), steatohepatitis, fibrosis and cancer. Here we asked if structured (treadmill) exercise can prevent these pathologies.

Mice aged to 16 months were exercised 3 times/week for 30mins. Hepatic inflammation, steatosis and liver tumours were dramatically reduced in exercised animals and correlated with improved quality of health (activity). There was also a striking reduction in hepatic ELS, neutrophils, NK cells, B cells and T cells and the chemokines CXCL9 and CXCL10. Mechanistically, we observed increased liver tryptophan metabolism, NAD+ production and elevated SIRT1 activity. These changes were associated with suppressed NF-κB activity and reduced levels of hepatic TNFα, IL-6, CXCL9 and CXCL10.

This striking finding has major implications as an easily translatable low impact therapy for an increasingly aged population with incrementally increasing inflammatory liver disease.