While exercise is often viewed through the lens of weight management, its benefits in the oncology setting extend far deeper than the number on a scale. In exercise oncology, physical activity is increasingly recognized as a potent, independent intervention that can fundamentally alter cancer outcomes.
Jennifer A. Ligibel, MD, discussed the enormous value of exercise as a tool for both prevention and survival. Moving beyond the common misconception that exercise is merely a weight-loss supplement, Ligibel highlighted landmark research, including the CHALLENGE trial (NCT00819208), which demonstrated that structured physical activity can significantly lower the risk of cancer recurrence and mortality. The results presented at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting found an 80% disease-free survival rate at 5 years for those in the structured exercise program vs 74% in the health education materials program. Additionally, a 28% lower risk of recurrent or new cancers was noted in patients who were part of the exercise regimen.
Ligibel is a professor at Harvard Medical School and a senior physician in the Breast Oncology Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Transcript:
There is enormous value in exercise, beyond its role in weight management. We know that people who are active are generally of a healthier body weight. Exercise, by itself, for most people, does not cause [them] to lose weight, especially for women, but it’s important in maintaining a healthy weight. Studies that have looked at people who lose weight show that if you’re exercising, you’re much more likely to keep it off than people who don’t. Exercise does have a role in weight management, but there’s a lot of evidence that exercise has an independent value in preventing cancer and in preventing recurrence. The best example of that was the CHALLENGE trial, which was presented at ASCO last year. This was a study that enrolled patients who had been treated for colorectal cancer and had finished all their conventional therapy. They were [randomly assigned] to a structured exercise program, which was mostly aerobic exercise—walking—or to what we usually do, tell people to be healthy, but we don’t help them do that. Unfortunately, that’s a whole other topic. In that study, the patients who were [randomly assigned] to the exercise [arm] had a significant reduction in their risk of colon cancer occurrence, and a significant reduction in the risk of mortality. When you looked at the data, there was also this intriguing reduction in the risk of new cancers, especially breast cancer, new colon cancers, and prostate cancer. That study gives us an incredible insight into the value of exercise, all the way from prevention to prevention of recurrence and mortality. Clear evidence that exercise is an important part of the way that we could think about preventing cancer and treating it in people with potentially curable disease.
Reference
Booth CM, Vardy JL, O’Callaghan CJ, et al. A randomized phase III trial of the impact of a structured exercise program on disease-free survival (DFS) in stage 3 or high-risk stage 2 colon cancer: Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG) CO.21 (CHALLENGE). J Clin Oncol. 2025;43(suppl 17):LBA3510. doi:10.1200/JCO.2025.43.17_suppl.LBA3510
