The WISER (Women in Steady Exercise Research) Sister trial aims to find out whether women at high risk of breast cancer can use exercise to significantly decrease their likelihood for developing the disease. WISER Sister will be conducted by researchers from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. This study is based on evidence that reducing estrogen in the body reduces cancer risk, and that a drop in estrogen levels experienced by female athletes often causing ovulation and menstruation to stop.

Women who carry BRCA genetic mutations are at high risk for developing breast cancer. BRCA is a tumor suppressor gene, up to 80 percent of women who have mutations in this gene are expected to develop breast or ovarian cancer. Options to decrease risk are quite few and some women may not approve of certain choices. A study have shown that prophylactic mastectomy reduces the carriers’ breast cancer risk by 90 percent, while prophylactic oophorectomy, or ovary removal, also slash their breast cancer risk as well as their chances of getting of ovarian cancer. Though research have proven that the said surgical interventions are very effective, women may find such measures quite drastic because of the effects on the body image and sexuality. Ovary removal puts an end to a woman’s childbearing years. Moreover, the surgical procedures are inadvisable for women who have a family history of breast cancer but do not carry the mutated genes.

According to Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, the lead author of the study, many find it difficult to decide to opt for surgery. Some women delay making decisions and postponing interventions may result to unpleasant consequences. The aim of WISER sister is to find out if exercise could buy high-risk women the time they need to further think through their options. This study will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Susan Domchek, director of the Abramson Cancer Center’s Cancer Risk Evaluation Program. Dr Schmitz added that known benefits of exercise such as health promotion and stress reduction make it even more attractive for the targeted participants.

Schmitz’s team will enroll 160 women ages 18 to 40, over the next three years. The participants must have an elevated risk of getting breast cancer based on their family history. BRCA carriers will be included among qualified women. Participants of the study will not be required to undergo genetic testing. Investigators will to measure their levels of estrogen, progesterone and other sex hormones from the urine samples of the women. Breast MRIs will be carried out before and after the study to determine any changes in the density of the breast tissue. Participants of this trial will placed in three randomized groups and will be monitord for seven months. Each woman will be given a treadmill to use at home which they can keep after the completion of the study. Those who will be placed on the “low dose” group have to engage in 150 minutes of exercise each week, this is the same amount recommended for overall health and fitness. The “high dose” group, on the other hand will complete 300 minutes of exercise each week, same as those workouts for weight control. The women in the control group will do their usual activities through-out the trial.

The investigators intend to utilize their findings to come up with effective exercise guidelines for high-risk women. Dr Schmitz hopes that the results of WISER Sister will help them formulate risk-reduction methods to a larger population of high-risk women, including groups that lack access to genetic testing or recommended early screening.

Exercise is a drug-free and inexpensive intervention with very few side effects when compared to surgery. The extent of estrogen reduction that can occur during exercise is still unknown, however, in Dr Schmitz’s view, even evidence of borderline reduction should be significant enough. Results that will suggest that exercise may help delay onset of breast cancer, reduction of breast density to improve accuracy of early screening procedures, or decrease tumor size would help women in their 20s and 30s in planning risk reduction measures.

Women who are interested in the trial can visit the WISER Sister website.
Reference:
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (2009, April 11). Study Examines Power Of Exercise To Prevent Breast Cancer.

Tags: breast cancer, exercise, WISER, WISER Sister