The effect of swimming training on the expression of HIF-1α in the lung tissue of mice with lung cancer induced by benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P)

Background: Hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α) is commonly highly expressed in tumors under conditions of hypoxia or activation of oncogenic pathways. This study aimed to investigate the effect of swimming training on the expression of HIF-1α in the lung tissue of mice with lung cancer induced by B[a]P. Methods: In this study, 18 male Balb/c mice (mean age: 8 months; weight: 18 to 22 grams) were divided into 3 groups (healthy control (HC), lung cancer control (B[a]P), and lung cancer + training (ST) group). Lung cancer was induced by injection of B[a]P (100 mg/kg). The ST group received swimming training for 12 weeks, 3 sessions per week. After the intervention period, lung tissue was dissected and HIF-1α gene expression was measured using real-time PCR. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post- hoc test. Results: a significant difference was observed between the study groups (P=0.003). Based on the results of Bonferroni post hoc test, HIF-1α in the healthy control group was significantly lower than in the B[a]P and ST groups (P = 0.007; P = 0.01, respectively). Further investigation showed that HIF-1α was not significantly different between the B[a]P and ST groups (P = 0.99). Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that swimming training intervention does not reduce HIF-1α gene expression.