Women In Steady Exercise Research - Window of Opportunity for Exercise and Tumor Biology

The primary aim is to examine changes in tumor perfusion, oxygen saturation, and tumor physiology before and following acute physical activity in breast cancer patients. The secondary aim is to examine changes in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) levels before and following acute physical activity in breast cancer patients. The tertiary aim is to explore changes in circulating exerkines (cytokines and growth factors altered by exercise) before and following acute physical activity in breast cancer patients.

The proposed study seeks to leverage acute exercise physiology as a tool to better understand multiple clinical and mechanistic issues in exercise oncology. An acute exercise bout causes functional changes such as increases in heart rate and stroke volume leading to increased cardiac output and increased systemic blood flow. These systemic effects also increase tumor blood flow (perfusion). Additionally, an increase in mean arterial pressure increases oxygen diffusion distance within the tumor. Further, acute exercise mobilizes NK cells, cytokine signaling, and a myriad of other molecular and cellular transducers of exercise. Our study of acute exercise physiology in breast cancer patients will address several significant knowledge gaps both clinically and mechanistically.