Advanced cancer patients have a high-disease burden, with many clinical challenges owing to disease progression and associated treatments which aim to extend survival and manage symptoms during palliation in the absence of curative treatment options. Exercise has been demonstrably effective as a neo-adjuvant and adjuvant medicine to provide symptom control for cancer patients. However, exercise has not yet been tested as a synergistic medicine (to increase potency of systemic therapies, i.e. chemotherapy); or a targeted medicine (to suppress tumour growth in metastatic lesions; delay disease progression; or extend overall survival), particularly in human cancer patients.
This research program aims to significantly enhance mechanistic and clinical understanding towards the role of exercise in advanced cancer patients. Specifically, the program proposes to translate previous pre-clinical (animal) studies into patient-focused human trials; exploring the effects of exercise on tumour suppression and therapeutic effectiveness. In addition, the research program includes the exploration of the effect of exercise on overall survival.