Tests how exercise affects immune cells in people treated for breast or colon cancer
Compares two exercise intensities and their effect on immune cells in adults with cancer.
Key facts
- Who runs it
- Université de Sherbrooke
- Where
- Sherbrooke, CanadaSee the site
- Trial code
- Registry title
- Impact of Aerobic Exercise on the Anticancer Immune Response in Patients Receiving Cancer Treatment
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 44 people, planned
- Started
- 1 Apr 2025
- Expected to end
- 30 Sept 2027
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets an existing treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- Exercise
- Record updated
- 29 August 2025
Who can take part
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for people aged 40 to 70 with breast or colon cancer that has not spread. They must have started chemotherapy or immunotherapy and be able to do aerobic exercise on a bike.
- Age
- 40 to 70 years
- Sex
- All sexes
- Disease stage
- Non-metastatic breast or colon cancer; ECOG stage 0 to 1
- Earlier treatment
- Must have started chemotherapy or immunotherapy, with at least three treatments remaining in the cycle
Main reasons for not taking part
- Orthopedic, cardiac or metabolic limitation that prevents safe aerobic exercise
- Uncontrolled health condition
- Use of beta-blockers
- Surgery planned during the study period
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 9 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Diagnosis of non-metastatic breast or colon cancer
- Age between 40 and 70
- Have started chemotherapy or immunotherapy treatment and have at least three treatments remaining in the cycle
- ECOG stage 0 to 1
- Be able to perform moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (MOD) or EPI type cycling according to the established prescription and without experiencing pain in connection with the bicycle saddle
Who cannot take part
- Planned surgery during the study period
- Orthopedic, cardiac or metabolic limitation preventing safe aerobic exercise
- Non-controlled health condition
- Use of beta-blockers
Check if you might fit
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- Are you between 40 and 70 years old?
Where in Canada
- Research Center on AgingSherbrooke, CanadaContact: Eléonor Riesco, PhDTaking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
The goal of this clinical trial is to determine to what extent anticancer immune cells mobilized by aerobic exercise exhibit migratory and functional capacity towards cancer cells in patients undergoing treatment for breast or colorectal cancer. The main questions it aims to answer are:
Read full original descriptionShow less
• Do anticancer immune cells mobilized by aerobic exercise will display migratory and functional capacity in patients undergoing treatment for curable breast or colorectal cancer?
Hypothesis: exercise will promote cell migration and these cells will display anti-cancer functional characteristics, suggesting a possible adjuvant and immunotherapeutic use of exercise.
• Do the magnitude of this anti-cancer immune response to exercise depend on the intensity of exercise?
Hypothesis: the achievement of a higher intensity of effort will enable greater mobilization of the cytotoxic lymphocytes of interest, but also the expression of markers predicting a more interesting adjuvant potential to immunotherapy.
Researchers will compare the effect of two exercise sessions, one moderate-intensity continuous exercise session (MOD) and one high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) on the migration and anticancer potentials of mobilized immune cells.
Individuals aged between 40 and 70 with curable colon or breast cancer will be recruited to carry out a cross-over study with two experimental conditions. After a preliminary assessment visit, they will take part in:
* Two familiarization visits to validate the exercise prescription * Two experimental visits (HIIE and MOD). During these conditions, blood samples will be taken before, after and 1 hour after the end of exercise to collect immune cells in the blood.
At the end of the visits, participants will leave with an accelerometer to wear for three days depending on conditions, and a notebook containing a questionnaire to assess fatigue levels over the same three days.
The 2 groups in the trial
- Condition HIIETreatment being tested
Individuals undergoing cancer treatment will complete one session of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) with a ratio high-intensity/active recovery of 1 min /2 min. During the condition blood samples will be collected.
Treatment: Exercise
- Condition MODExisting treatment, for comparison
Individuals undergoing cancer treatment will complete one moderate-intensity continuous exercise (MOD) session during which blood samples will be collected. MOD will consist of aerobic exercise that match external workload of HIIE.
Treatment: Exercise
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- Acute Effect of Moderate and High-Intensity Aerobic Exercise on the Anticancer Immune Response in Individuals Undergoing Treatment for Curable Cancer
- Plain-language title
- Tests how exercise affects immune cells in people treated for breast or colon cancerGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
- AI summary
- From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 12 November 2026.
- Fit questions
- Built from NCT06911970, who can take part
- Record updated
- 29 August 2025