Adapted Physical Activity (APA) in a Breast Cancer Population.

September 27, 2021 updated by: Ettore Marini, University Of Perugia

Adapted Physical Activity (APA), Insulin Resistance, Oxidative Stress and Microcirculatory Haemodynamics in Breast Cancer Patients.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of a 6-months program of Adapted Physical Activity (APA) on lifestyle, physical activity levels, insulin resistance and adipokines, oxidative stress, microcirculatory haemodynamics and serum levels of specific circulating miRNA in post-menopausal, physically inactive breast cancer patients in oncologic follow-up with or without hormone therapy that had completed adjuvant treatment (radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy) .

Furthermore, the study will determine the impact of APA on functional capabilities, on self-reported physical activity, quality of life and psychic health.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

This is a randomized controlled double-group assignment study with intermedial switch-over including post-menopausal, physically inactive breast cancer patients in oncological follow-up with or without hormone therapy, that had completed adjuvant post-surgical treatment (radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy) from at least 3 months and from not more than 3 years.

Patients in hormonal therapy and patient not in hormonal therapy will be assigned in two different groups, each one of 50 patients. In each groups, patients will be randomized divided in a control group (25 pt) and in a 6 months-physical training group (25 pt). After 6-months patient in control group will be switched in the physical training group.

The duration of the study is 2 year. Clinical evaluation of the patients will be made: at the enrollment, after 6, 12, and 24 months.

Physical activity will be adapted according to arm and shoulder morbidity, after fracture risk assessment. Exercise will be concentrated solely on leg muscles (pedalling on a cycle or bed ergometer) in individuals with limitations in the range of motion of the arms (eg, due to breast, axillary, or thoracic surgery). In patients experiencing ataxia, dizziness, or peripheral neuropathy, walking outdoors and mostly cycle-ergometry training will be preferred to other activities that also involve large muscle groups but require additional balance and coordination (eg, treadmill walking, outdoor cycling).

Exercises will be performed at the Unipolar Spinal Unit of "S. Maria della Misericordia" Hospital, Perugia.

The aim of the study is to confirm the positive effect of APA on metabolic stress, body mass composition, functional capacity, serum levels of specific circulating miRNA and quality of life in breast cancer patients in oncological follow-up.

Currently, only few data are available about the relationship between physical activity and microcirculatory hemodynamics that, together with oxidative stress, could be involved in genesis and progression of breast cancer.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

100

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

      • Perugia, Italy, 06132
        • University of Perugia

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • breast cancer patients in oncological follow-up
  • post-menopausal age
  • physically inactivity (light to moderate or vigorous leisure-time physical activity less than 10 minutes a day, US National Health Interview Survey)
  • assuming or not hormone therapy
  • after 3 months - 3 years from adjuvant post-surgical treatment (radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy)

Exclusion Criteria:

Permanent

  • Patients older than 80 years
  • Inability to carry on physical activity
  • Metastatic neoplasia or unknown stage and/or histology
  • Concomitant neoplasia
  • Patients on corticosteroid treatment
  • Known heart disease (heart failure NYHA II (New York Heart Association II) or superior, angina pectoris or positive exercise stress test, treatment-related cardiotoxicity)
  • Currently on a weight loss plan or on moderate physical activity before the start of the project (no more than three sessions a week)
  • Severe cachexia (loss of more than of 35% premorbid weight or weight loss more than 10% in the last 6 months).
  • Morbidly obesity (BMI >40 kg/m2),
  • Immunodepression (absolute neutrophils count < 500/mmc)

Temporary

  • Uncontrolled pain or new onset bone pain until further diagnostic study
  • Severe anemia (haemoglobin below 8 g/dL) or platelet count lower than <50000/μL
  • Fever (temperature above 38ºC) or acute infections
  • Severe nausea and vomiting within previous 24-36 h
  • Uncontrolled blood pressure (systolic blood pressure > 160 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure >99 mm Hg)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Exercise
Patients involved in the 6 months-physical training group.

The exercise intervention consists of 60 minutes sessions, divided into 40 minutes of aerobic exercise and 20 minutes of circuit training for muscular strength and flexibility exercises.

Aerobic exercise is performed using treadmill, exercise bikes, syncro and arm-ergometers, gradually increasing the exercise intensity, after a 10 minutes period of warming-up, to 60-80 % of Maximum Heart Rate.

Resistance training consists of resistance exercises for large muscle groups, performed with body weight-exercises and isotonic machines.

No Intervention: Control
Patients in control group carry on their usual follow-up programme.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in physical activity levels
Time Frame: Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Self reported physical activity, using IPAQ-SF (International Physical Activity Questionnairev - Short Form) score
Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Change in BMI
Time Frame: Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Reduction of BMI expressed as body mass (kg) / height^2 (m^2)
Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Post-Occlusive Reactive Hyperemia (PORH)
Time Frame: Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Improvement of Area of Hyperemia (AH) at Post-Occlusive Reactive Hyperemia (PORH) on Laser Doppler velocimetry (Periflux System 5000, Perimed), expressed as Perfusion Units (PU).
Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT)
Time Frame: Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Improvement of macrovascular structures, that will be explored by carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) (two-dimensional B-mode ultrasonography), measured in mm.
Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Arterial stiffness
Time Frame: Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Reduction of arterial stiffness, that will be evaluated by radial applanation tonometry (SphygmoCor) and general transfer function assessing PWV (measure in m/s).
Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Hemorheological profile
Time Frame: Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Improvement of Hemorheological profile, that will be studied with Serum, Plasma, and Blood Viscosity (Haake rotational viscometer), measured as mPas.
Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Serum adiponectin
Time Frame: Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Improvement of serum adiponectin, measured by ELISA-method (ng/ml). Blood samples will be collected in the morning between 7:00 and 9:00 am, after overnight fasting.
Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Serum IGF-1
Time Frame: Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Improvement of serum IGF-1, measured by ELISA-method (ng/ml). Blood samples will be collected in the morning between 7:00 and 9:00 am, after overnight fasting.
Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
VFA (Visceral Fat Area)
Time Frame: Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Improvement of Ultrasound assesment of visceral fat area (VFA, by MyLab 50 Ultrasonography, Esaote), measured by Hirooka formula (cm^2)
Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
HOMA-IR index
Time Frame: Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.

Homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) for insulin resistance (IR) is a method for assessing β-cell function and insuline resistance from basal (fasting) glucose and insulin or C-peptide concentrations. HOMA-IR can be calculated with a simple mathematical approximation as HOMA-IR = (FPI × FPG)/22.5, where FPI is fasting plasma insulin concentration (mU/l) and FPG is fasting plasma glucose (mmol/l), or as HOMA-IR = (FPI × FPG)/405 if fasting plasma glucose is expressed in mg/dl.

Values bethween 3 and 5 are considered expression of moderate insuline resistance; values upper 5 are considered expression of severe insuline resistance.

Improvement of insulin-sensitivity expressed as HOMA-IR index reduction.

Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Maximal aerobic capacity (VO2max)
Time Frame: Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Increase of maximal aerobic capacity after physical training, measured as ml/kg/min.
Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
miRNA
Time Frame: Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.
Variation of serum miR-10b, 15a, 146, 155, 375 e let-7a,b,c concentrations.
Evaluation baseline and after 6, 12 and 24 months from enrollment.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Study Director: Leonella Pasqualini, MD, University of Perugia

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 1, 2019

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

December 31, 2022

Study Completion (Anticipated)

December 31, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 22, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 4, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

May 17, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

October 5, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 27, 2021

Last Verified

September 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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