DECODE Heartland: Understanding and Addressing Disparities in Cancer Therapy Induced Inflammation and Associated Endothelial Dysfunction

Summary

Very little is understood about the off-target vascular mechanisms of anti-cancer drug toxicity and the impact of exercise on these changes. Much of what has been learned about molecular pathways regulating vascular endothelial function has been established by logical expansion of knowledge obtained through experimental studies (e.g., discovery of endothelium-derived relaxing factor/nitric oxide). Within the last 10 years technological advancements of -omics approaches, such as RNA-sequencing and shotgun proteomics, have dramatically reduced the cost and technical challenge of accessing these tools for discovery-based research. Investigators are now able to obtain unbiased datasets showing changes in transcript or protein expression within complex samples. With cost and accessibility of sequencing is no longer being substantial bottleneck, one of major challenges researchers now face is determining how to meaningfully interpret profiles from large datasets. The extensive characterization of molecular pathways impacting inflammatory responses, endothelial function and angiogenesis, the pathway and network analysis tools will be an asset for identification molecular pathways relevant to alterations in microvascular endothelial function. The investigators preliminary studies on only a small number of samples highlights this potential of the proposed approach to lead to identify personalized medicine-based profiles that will predict patients are likely to develop microvascular endothelial dysfunction from CTx.

Arms & interventions

• BehavioralTaking Charge during Treatment (TCT) Intervention

  CT is a 16-20week intervention that promotes adoption of the ACSM exercise guidelines for cancer survivors during treatment, including regular moderate to vigorous physical activity (150 minutes per week of moderate activity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous activity) and a minimum of twice weekly resistance training (RT) minutes during CTx and after. Program components include (1) a binder of information, (2) weekly coaching, (3) 2-4x weekly text messaging and (4) exercise supplies. The TCT program is grounded in Social Cognitive Theory.

Outcome measures

Eligibility criteria