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2022 Wild Dunes MGA – PCF Young Investigator Award

Exercise for Tumor Suppressive Impact in Black Patients with Prostate Cancer on Active Surveillance: The RE-MOVE Trial

Dong-Woo Kang, PhD
Harvard: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI)

Mentors: Christina Dieli-Conwright, PhD, MPH, Alicia Morgans, MD, MPH, Timothy Rebbeck, PhD

Description:

  • Active surveillance is a preferred management strategy for patients with early-stage prostate cancer, in which patients are closely monitored but treatments are withheld unless the disease becomes clinically significant. However, Black patients with low-risk prostate cancer have a higher risk of developing more aggressive disease and experiencing disease progression than White men, leading to concerns that active surveillance might not be an appropriate option for many.
  • Emerging evidence from animal and human studies suggests that exercise has a great potential to benefit patients with prostate cancer undergoing active surveillance. Black patients have been markedly underrepresented in clinical exercise trials among cancer populations, and no exercise trials to date have been conducted in Black men with prostate cancer undergoing active surveillance.
  • In the RE-MOVE Trial, Dr. Dong-Woo Kang is leading a randomized phase 2 clinical trial to test the effects of a 16-week aerobic and resistance training program vs. usual care on cancer progression (e.g., rise in PSA levels and growth of prostate cancer cell line) in Black patients with low-risk prostate cancer undergoing active surveillance.
  • The effects of exercise on tumor-related biomarkers, physical fitness, psychosocial outcomes, and clinical events will also be investigated.
  • If successful, this project will be a critical foundation for a larger phase 3 clinical trial to determine whether an exercise intervention can reduce or prevent prostate cancer progression in Black men with prostate cancer on active surveillance.

What this means to patients: Preclinical and epidemiologic studies have suggested that exercise can reduce prostate cancer progression, however few clinical trials have evaluated this. Dr. Kang’s project will determine whether aerobic and resistance training can reduce the risk of PSA progression in Black patients with low-risk prostate cancer undergoing active surveillance. This could lead to a new exercise-based intervention that will improve cancer outcomes, physical fitness, and psychological distress in this underrepresented group of cancer patients, which will contribute to reducing prostate cancer disparities.