Researching the Effect of Exercise on Cancer

Phase 1a/b Trial of Exercise as Interception Therapy for Primary High-Risk Cancer

Researchers think that exercise may be able to prevent cancer from coming back by lowering ctDNA levels. The purpose of this study is to explore how aerobic exercise (exercise that stimulates and strengthens the heart and lungs and improves the body's use of oxygen) can reduce the level of ctDNA found in the blood. During the study, the highest level of exercise that is practical, is safe, and has positive effects on the body that may prevent the return of cancer (including a decrease in ctDNA levels) will be found. Each level of exercise tested will be a certain number of minutes each week. Once the best level of exercise is found, it will be tested further in a new group of participants. All participants in this study will have been previously treated for breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Breast Cancer; Colorectal Cancer; Prostate Cancer; Stage I Breast Cancer; Stage II Breast Cancer; Stage I Prostate Cancer; Stage II Prostate Cancer; Stage III Prostate Cancer; Stage III Breast Cancer; Stage III Colorectal Cancer; Stage I Colorectal Cancer; Stage II Colorectal Cancer
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Exercise

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 33
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • San Carlos, California, United States, 94070
      • Natera, Inc. (Data or Specimen Analysis Only)
  • New Jersey
    • Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States, 07920
      • Memorial Sloan Kettering Basking Ridge (Limited Protocol Activities)
    • Middletown, New Jersey, United States, 07748
      • Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth (Limited Protocol Activities)
    • Montvale, New Jersey, United States, 07645
      • Memorial Sloan Kettering Bergen (Limited Protocol Activities)
  • New York
    • Commack, New York, United States, 11725
      • Memorial Sloan Kettering Commack (Limited protocol activities)
    • Harrison, New York, United States, 10604
      • Memorial Sloan Kettering Westchester (Limited protocol activities)
    • New York, New York, United States, 10065
      • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
    • Uniondale, New York, United States, 11553
      • Memorial Sloan Kettering Nassau (Limited Protocol Activities)

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Postsurgical diagnosis of patients with primary solid tumors at high-risk of relapse as defined by one of the following:

  ° High-risk primary solid tumor (e.g., colorectal, ovarian, non-small cell lung cancer) (colorectal cancer only for Phase 1a)

• Stage 3 or

• ctDNA positive

  ° High-risk breast cancer

• Residual invasive disease in the breast or the lymph nodes following completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT),
• Estrogen receptor (ER), and/or progesterone receptor (PR) positive and HER2 negative,
• CPS-EG score ≥ 3,
• CPS-EG score ≥2 w ith ypN+, or
• Recurrence score ≥ 25
• No evidence of disease
• Age ≥ 18
• Interval of ≥ 1 month but ≤ 2 years following completion of all definitive adjuvant therapy

• Non-exercising (i.e., < 30 minutes of moderate and < 20 mins of vigorous exercise/wk), as assessed by remote activity and heart rate tracking for a 7-day period prior to study entry)

  ° If ≥ 30 minutes but less than 45 minutes of moderate exercise/week, or if ≥ 20 minutes but less than 30 minutes of vigorous exercise/week, patients may be eligible, at the discretion of the PI.

• Cleared for exercise participation as per screening clearance via PAR-Q+
• Willingness to comply with all study-related procedures

Exclusion Criteria:

• Enrollment onto any other interventional investigational study except interventions determined by the PI not to confound study outcomes
• Any other current diagnosis of invasive cancer of any kind
• Distant metastatic malignancy of any kind
• Any other condition or intercurrent illness that, in the opinion of the investigator, makes the subject a poor candidate for study participation

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Dose-Finding/Escalation; Fifty (n=50) post-treatment patients with colorectal cancer or breast cancer, deemed high-risk of relapse. The study will use an adaptive continuous reassessment method (CRM) design to assign patients sequentially at trial entry to one of five escalated doses depending on the feasibility / tolerability of exercise therapy evaluated over the total treatment period. The primary objective of this phase 1a trial is to identify the RP2D of exercise therapy for further evaluation in the phase 1b trial.	Other: Exercise; Exercise therapy in both phases will consist of individualized walking delivered 3 to 6 times weekly (over a 7-day period). Exercise treatment will be delivered for up to 18 months, or until progression of disease or withdrawal of consent, whichever comes first. The phase 1a trial will assess five doses of exercise therapy (i.e., 90, 150, 225, 300, and 375 mins/wk) delivered following a non-linear (i.e., exercise dose is continually altered and progressed in conjunction with appropriate rest/recovery sessions across the entire intervention period) dosing schedule. The phase 1b trial will only test one dose of exercise therapy - the RP2D identified in the phase 1a trial.
Experimental: Dose Expansion; An independent cohort of 30 post-treatment patients with colorectal (n=15) or breast (n=15) cancer deemed high-risk of relapse. This cohort expansion trial will only evaluate the RP2D identified in the phase 1a trial. The primary objective of this phase 1b trial is to further evaluate the feasibility, safety, and biological activity of the RP2D.	Other: Exercise; Exercise therapy in both phases will consist of individualized walking delivered 3 to 6 times weekly (over a 7-day period). Exercise treatment will be delivered for up to 18 months, or until progression of disease or withdrawal of consent, whichever comes first. The phase 1a trial will assess five doses of exercise therapy (i.e., 90, 150, 225, 300, and 375 mins/wk) delivered following a non-linear (i.e., exercise dose is continually altered and progressed in conjunction with appropriate rest/recovery sessions across the entire intervention period) dosing schedule. The phase 1b trial will only test one dose of exercise therapy - the RP2D identified in the phase 1a trial.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Identify the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) of exercise for testing in the phase 1b.	Using an adaptive phase 1 (non-randomized) design, non-exercising (i.e., <60 mins/wk of moderate or vigorous exercise) post-treatment patients with primary breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer and detectable ctDNA (n=50) will be administered one of five escalating dose levels.	24 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Jessica Scott, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 2, 2020
• Primary Completion (Estimated): October 2, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 2, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 5, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 9, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): October 19, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 6, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 4, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Breast Cancer; exercise; Prostate Cancer; Colorectal Cancer; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; ctDNA; 20-378
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Urogenital Diseases; Genital Diseases; Genital Neoplasms, Male; Urogenital Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Genital Diseases, Male; Prostatic Diseases; Male Urogenital Diseases; Intestinal Diseases; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms; Digestive System Neoplasms; Digestive System Diseases; Gastrointestinal Diseases; Intestinal Neoplasms; Rectal Diseases; Colonic Diseases; Skin Diseases; Breast Diseases; Behavior; Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases; Prostatic Neoplasms; Colorectal Neoplasms; Breast Neoplasms; Motor Activity; Motor Activity; Movement; Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena; Exercise
• Other Study ID Numbers: 20-378

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center supports the international committee of medical journal editors (ICMJE) and the ethical obligation of responsible sharing of data from clinical trials. The protocol summary, a statistical summary, and informed consent form will be made available on clinicaltrials.gov when required as a condition of Federal awards, other agreements supporting the research and/or as otherwise required. Requests for deidentified individual participant data can be made beginning 12 months after publication and for up to 36 months post publication. Deidentified individual participant data reported in the manuscript will be shared under the terms of a Data Use Agreement and may only be used for approved proposals. Requests may be made to: crdatashare@mskcc.org.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No