Impact of a Pre-Operative Exercise Intervention on Breast Cancer Proliferation and Gene Expression: Results from the Pre-Operative Health and Body (PreHAB) Study.

Purpose: Exercise after breast cancer diagnosis is associated with lower cancer-specific mortality, but the biological mechanisms through which exercise impacts breast cancer are not fully understood. The Pre-Operative Health and Body (PreHAB) Study was a randomized window-of-opportunity trial designed to test the impact of exercise on Ki-67, gene expression, and other biomarkers in women with breast cancer.

Experimental Design: Inactive women with newly diagnosed breast cancer were randomized to an exercise intervention or mind-body control group, and participated in the study between enrollment and surgery (mean 29.3 days). Tumor and serum were collected at baseline and surgery.

Results: Forty-nine women were randomized (27 exercise, 22 control). At baseline, mean age was 52.6, body mass index was 30.2 kg/m, and exercise was 49 minutes/week. Exercise participants significantly increased exercise versus controls (203 vs. 23 minutes/week, < 0.0001). There were no differences in changes of expression of Ki-67, insulin receptor, and cleaved caspase-3 in exercise participants versus controls. KEGG pathway analysis demonstrated significant upregulation of 18 unique pathways between the baseline biopsy and surgical excision in exercise participants and none in control participants ( < 0.1). Top-ranked pathways included several implicated in immunity and inflammation. Exploratory analysis of tumor immune infiltrates demonstrated a trend toward a decrease in FOXP3 cells in exercise versus control participants over the intervention period ( = 0.08).

Conclusions: A window-of-opportunity exercise intervention did not impact proliferation but led to alterations in gene expression in breast tumors, suggesting that exercise may have a direct effect on breast cancer..