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PRESS RELEASE Nationally known public health researcher partners with GHS GREENVILLE, SC – A combination of exercise and a compound found in red apples holds promise for the treatment of cancer-related fatigue (CRF) – a debilitating side-effect of cancer that affects millions of people and has no known cure or cause. The compound and other nutritional strategies will be tested through a new program called Moving On. Moving On is the first program of its kind in the state and is a collaboration of the Cancer Center of Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center (GHS) and the University of South Carolina-School of Public Health (USC). “Fatigue is the number one complaint of cancer patients, and with more patients living longer and surviving the disease, it is imperative that we find a way to treat their fatigue and improve their quality of life,” said Dr. W. Larry Gluck, medical director of oncology services at GHS. “What makes this program unique is that we are taking what we learned from the nation’s first-ever oncology rehabilitation program in Greenville about using exercise to treat fatigue and pairing it with the promising research USC is conducting in this area.” Fatigue is described as a daily lack of energy, an unusual or excessive whole-body tiredness not relieved by sleep. It is not to be confused with tiredness, which happens to everyone and is expected at the end of a long day. Instead, CRF is often described as “paralyzing” and can prevent patients from functioning normally. USC has been investigating the effects of quercetin (a natural compound found in foods like red apples, grapes and onions) on fatigue in laboratory mice and healthy human subjects since 2005. When quercetin is administered to mice in small doses, mitochondria (organelles that produce most of the body’s energy by consuming oxygen and metabolizing nutrients like fat and carbohydrates) increases in both their brain and muscle. For mice, more mitochondria equals greater energy and endurance, which is what researchers expect will be the case for cancer patients as well. The benefits of quercetin on endurance and overall fitness have been found in healthy humans but are yet to be studied in cancer patients. “It is unprecedented to find a natural nutrient that can increase mitochondria like that in both the brain and the muscle,” said Dr. J. Mark Davis, professor of exercise physiology, immunology and nutrition at the University of South Carolina. “The implications of this study are huge not only because quercetin is likely to reduce fatigue and increase endurance, but because so many diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, involve a reduction in mitochondrial function.” During the first phase of the study, Davis expects to test between 30 and 60 Moving On patients in a six-month period. He and his team of graduate students will work directly with a nurse oncologist and other staff at GHS’ Life Center Health & Conditioning Club to screen patients to determine eligibility for a study on the effects of quercetin supplementation. Eligible patients will consume 1000mg of quercetin daily for 14 days. No exercise will be administered during the initial study, but a follow-up study will include both quercetin and exercise. “The combination of exercise and quercetin will likely have the biggest effect on cancer-related fatigue,” said Davis. “This is because preliminary animal studies suggest that quercetin and exercise have synergistic, or more than additive, benefits on fatigue.” Measurements will be taken pre-treatment and again at days seven and 14 using questionnaires, computer tests and physical assessments. Questionnaires will cover perceived changes in mental and physical fatigue, as well as quality of life, and computer tests will assess cognitive function. The physical assessment will measure patients’ voluntary physical activity (using accelerometers) and exercise tolerance (using a maximal oxygen consumption test and six-minute walk test). At the completion of 14 days, participants will have the option to continue taking quercetin for another six to eight weeks. Davis said the study may help garner financial support from the National Institutes for Health for future studies. All patients enrolled in the Moving On program receive 10 weeks of medically-supervised exercise sessions and educational classes at GHS’ Life Center Health & Conditioning Club regardless of their eligibility for any of the quercetin studies. Physician referral is required to participate in the program.
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