Metastatic prostate cancer patients needed for Interval-Gap4 exercise trial

This is the question Australian researchers are hoping to answer with the INTERVAL-GAP4 trial, being run by men's health charity Movember.

Movember's global director of biomedical research, Mark Buzza, said it is hoped the trial - which if successful will be the first randomised controlled trial in the world to prove the benefits of exercise for cancer patients - could eventually lead to a revolution in the way advanced prostate cancer is tackled.

"Most men with advanced prostate cancer will have had either surgery or radiation therapy - or both - and some may have had chemotherapy. What we want to determine through the INTERVAL-GAP4 trial is if exercise can be used as a medicine alongside conventional treatments," he said.

Over 20 research teams from eight countries - including Australia - are aiming to recruit more than 850 men to test whether exercise could be prescribed as a medicine alongside standard treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy or hormone therapy.

Dr Nicolas Hart, a senior research fellow at Edith Cowan University and global exercise co-ordinator for the study, said the trial is the first of its kind in the world to investigate the effects of exercise on cancer-specific outcomes including disease biology and patient survival, and the largest trial worldwide in exercise oncology.

"The results could lead to a change in the way we treat advanced prostate cancer and solidify exercise as a medicine for prostate cancer," he said.

Study participant Wayne Fawcett, 69, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2005. The retired firefighter signed up to the trial while having chemotherapy.

"I'm used to keeping fit and enjoy walking anyway but the exercises I do as part of the trial are definitely helping me cope better with the treatments," he said.

"My oncologist said he didn't know how I managed to keep going throughout the chemo - but I did. One of the reasons I wanted to take part in the trial was that the treatments I was having can cause muscle loss. Exercise helps build up muscle density and that in turn protects your bones. If you don't use it, you lose it."

Patients on the active (supervised exercise) arm of the trial are required to do three sessions of exercise a week over two years.

The programme includes two 60-75-minute sessions of mixed resistance and aerobic exercise and one 30-45 minute session of aerobic exercise each week.

In Australia, the research is taking place at the Edith Cowan University (WA), Epworth Hospital and Sunshine Hospital (VIC), the University of Canberra and Queensland University of Technology and University of Queensland.

Mr Buzza said World Cancer Day, on February 3, was the ideal time to remind people to take action against cancer and to talk about the trial.

"Movember is encouraging everyone to take action - big or small - in the fight against a disease that destroys lives and robs families of precious time with the fathers, brothers, uncles and friends they love," he said.

On World Cancer Day, February 4, men's health charity Movember highlights how exercise can be a powerful weapon in the fight against prostate cancer.

We already know that a regular workout lowers the risk of heart disease, diabetes and a number of cancers. However, a recently published study found that men who exercise daily may also halve their risk of prostate cancer.

A team funded by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and Cancer Research UK, measured levels of physical activity among 79,148 men with prostate cancer and 61,106 without.

The study found those that were the most active had a 51 per cent reduced risk of prostate cancer compared with those who were the least active.

Staying physically active might be the last thing on your mind when you're exhausted from dealing with cancer - but it is thought that exercise could make a huge difference during treatment.

Regular workouts have also been proven to help prevent a decline in cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness.

A 2016 Movember-funded pilot study led by Professor Rob Newton from Edith Cowan University in Western Australia and published in the British Medical Journal Open found exercise had the effect of helping men lose weight they may have gained through hormone therapy and helped them cope better with cancer-related fatigue and the toxic effects of chemotherapy.

Treatments for prostate cancer can sometimes leave a man with a higher risk of developing illnesses such as Type 2 diabetes, heart attack and stroke. This is because the hormones used for treatment affect how fats in the diet are metabolised and stored.

Men who are overweight or obese when they are diagnosed with prostate cancer are more likely to get side effects from treatment. Some of these side effects can be improved by taking up regular exercise. It may also prevent the cancer coming back.

Movember's INTERVAL-GAP4 trial aims to prove whether high-intensity aerobic and resistance training could extend the lives of patients with metastatic prostate cancer.

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