Exercise Oncology Research Program

A new study led by researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that forty-five minutes of intense exercise three times a week could decrease cancer risk in patients with Lynch Syndrome. Lynch syndrome is a genetic disorder that increases the risk of developing colorectal cancers.

The focus of the study was to investigate how exercising might help prevent cancer. Researchers found that the immune system was boosted in the exercise group, a factor most likely involved in cancer risk reduction.

This study was conducted with a small number of participants (21 patients). Further research is needed to confirm cancer risk reduction in this patient population and explore these findings for the general population.

The study was published in Clinical Cancer Research.

• New research by scientists at Vanderbilt and Cornell universities demonstrated that cancer-killing immune system T cells become dysfunctional or “exhausted” within hours of encountering a tumor, significantly reducing the effect of immunotherapy. The challenge now becomes to identify targets that could prevent or reverse it. So far, the researchers have identified biomarkers that allow them to predict whether T cells will respond to a tumor or not, which is helpful for personalizing immunotherapies. The study was published in Nature Immunology.
• A recent study discovered that two new genes, NEK2 and INHBA, cause resistance to chemotherapy in head and neck cancer patients and that “silencing either gene can make cancer cells previously unresponsive to chemotherapy subsequently respond to it.” These two genes also play role in other cancers, so these findings can potentially expand to managing different cancer types. The study is published in Molecular Cancer.
• A new study found that antioxidants such as vitamins C and E can promote cancer growth and metastasizing by stimulating the development of new blood vessels in tumors, boosting their growth and spread. This new finding warrants caution in taking antioxidant supplements without true medical necessity. The study was published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
• A new cancer therapy has been introduced by Purdue University researchers. “A first in class” targeted microRNA therapy that slows tumor growth was reported in an article published in Oncogene.
• A randomized trial demonstrated that Artificial Intelligence-enabled breast cancer mammography screening was more effective than the standard reading by two experienced radiologists. The study was published in Lancet Oncology. At the same time, two other studies published in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that AI didn’t improve the detection of advanced adenomas leading to colorectal cancer. Thus, it remains unclear whether AI use could reduce the incidence of colon cancer. The first study is a randomized trial, and the second one is a systematic review and meta-analysis.
• Two recent studies evaluated Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbox responses to cancer related searches on the World Wide Web. The first study found that chatbox responses were of high quality but had some limitations. The second study found that a chatbot’s responses on cancer treatments were inconsistent with recommendations in National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines.

• The World Health Organization (WHO) released two reports informing that a popular artificial sweetener, Aspartame, may cause cancer. Aspartame is used as a sweetener in diet sodas, chewing gums, and other food products. While occasional consumption of products containing Aspartame can hardly do any damage, the harm can come from consuming the substance in large doses, Children are more likely to be at risk as they use products containing Aspartame more often than adults, and the implication is that it would be best to limit such products consumption. The article related to the issue was published in Lancet Oncology. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) disagreed with the conclusion that the studies on Aspartame support classifying Aspartame as a possible carcinogen.
  
• Scientists from Scotland discovered the exact mechanism of how bowel cancer evades immune system surveillance, which was a mystery to the biomedical community for quite a long time. This discovery paves the way to “potentially reversing or preventing this process”. The study was published in Cancer Immunology Research.
  
• Scientists from Harvard and several other institutions in the U.S. created an AI tool that could decode a brain tumor’s DNA to determine its molecular type during surgery. This information could otherwise take days to weeks to obtain. This information enables neurosurgeons to decide how to proceed best in the Operating Room. The tool, called CHARM (Cryosection Histopathology Assessment and Review Machine), while freely available to other researchers, must be clinically validated and cleared by the FDA before being used in hospitals. The report on this tool was published in the journal Med.
  
• A new observational study contributed to the body of evidence linking obesity to cancer. The study was led by researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in collaboration with researchers from Spain and Germany. The study followed up 2.6 million Catalan adults for the median period of 9 years, it “showed that longer duration of, greater degree of, and younger age of onset of overweight and obesity during early adulthood (ages 18–40 years) are positively associated with the risk of developing 18 cancer types.” The study was published in Nature Communications.
  
• Scientists from Yale University conducted research that can “help predict, treat, or even prevent side effects” of immunotherapy. So far, predicting which patients are susceptible to developing side effects from immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors and which healthy organs will take the toll is impossible. Side effects may lead to either suspending immunotherapy treatment or prescribing immunosuppressants, which could negatively interfere with immunotherapy. The study was published in Nature.