Project 466592

In Canada, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer. Thankfully, with evolving diagnostic technologies over the past century, the survival rate for breast cancer is 89%. Unfortunately, this increase in survivorship has allowed for the latent side-effects of cancer therapies to become apparent. One effective chemotherapy known to have toxic effects on our hearts is anthracyclines. Frequently, the heart damage is undiagnosed until significant damage occurs because the current detection methods are not strong enough. However, research in animal models suggests that heart damage may be detected by tracking changes in the molecules involved in metabolism- a field called metabolomics. Additionally, no drug can prevent heart damage caused by anthracyclines. However, the current research suggests that exercise may be an effective treatment. Exercise's effectiveness may be detected by changes in the metabolomics of heart cells. As such, the purpose of this research project is to see if a 24-week exercise intervention improves the heart health of cancer survivors receiving anthracyclines by looking at metabolomic profiles. A standard of care control group and an exercise intervention group will be randomly formed from a sample of pre-treatment adult breast cancer survivors. The exercise group will then complete a 24-week aerobic-based exercise program. At the same time, the standard of care group will continue with their day-to-day lives. This research, if proven statistically, would offer evidence to support the mitigating effect that exercise provides on heart damage caused by anthracyclines and how metabolomic profiles of heart cells are impacted by exercise. Such results would support the implementation of exercise programs for patients receiving anthracyclines.