Examining the role exercise can play in cancer prevention and treatment

“WHAT CAN I DO TO REDUCE my risk of cancer or prevent my cancer coming back?" For Dr. Lee Jones, exercise should be an essential part of how physicians answer this question.

Jones has a Ph.D. in exercise science and physiology and directs a novel research program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center focused on two areas:
• Can exercise reduce the side effects associated with cancer?
• Can exercise prevent cancer occurring in the first place or prevent it from coming back?

“During cancer treatment people are typically told to rest, and it’s quite possibly the worst advice we could be giving,” Jones said.

In his clinical trials, Jones has demonstrated that exercise can reduce the side effects of treatments such as chemotherapy or hormone therapy (for breast and prostate cancer), help people tolerate their cancer therapies better, and accelerate recovery after treatment. His program has already shown that exercise can prevent cancer as well as suppress cancer coming back.

Looking ahead, Jones said, “I think we’re on the verge of something very special.” Instead of the standard approach to clinical trials— have one group that exercises, one control group that doesn’t, and compare outcomes—he wants to get much more personalized. There’s a reason for that: “If you give the same exercise prescription to 50 people, you’ll get 50 different responses,” he pointed out. “We want to understand individual response at different ‘levels.’ In other words, we want to understand everything from how a person is feeling down to what is happening at a molecular level in their cells. If you go for cancer treatment today, they’ll sequence your tumor and give you therapies based on that.

“I think we need to take same approach with exercise,” he said. “Can we customize exercise to maximize outcomes for cancer prevention and recovery?”

If anyone can answer that question, it’s Jones. He has an impressive track record of winning federal grants to fund a constant stream of research: $17 million in the eight years he’s been at Memorial Sloan Kettering. The key to all that funding, he said, was a gift from a private foundation. A foundation in Norway gave him $2 million of unrestricted funds when he first started. “That allowed us to do the pilot projects, so then we had exciting things to demonstrate in order to get the federal grants, which then allows us to do the big, practice changing studies,” he said.

Jones said he would be happy to speak with anyone interested in knowing more about specific research projects or areas of exercise oncology.

Megan Frankel is president of Healthnetwork and a member of Legatus' Cleveland Chapter. for more information on how Healthnetwork Foundation connects business leaders to the world's best health specialists, contact her at [email protected]