FORCE Trial: Resistance Training Intervention Among Colon Cancer Patients

Our study population was composed of participants of the FORCE clinical trial, which was a randomized resistance training intervention study for Stage II and III colon cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Patients were recruited from Kaiser Permanente of Northern California, the Penn State Cancer Institute, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and were assigned to resistance training or usual care within the first weeks of adjuvant chemotherapy. Lean mass was evaluated at the beginning and the end of the study, and participants were monitored for toxicities associated with chemotherapy and chemotherapy dose modifications. Genome-wide DNA methylation was assayed using peripheral blood collected at the FORCE trial baseline and the post-intervention visit using the Infinium MethylationEPIC v1.0 (EPIC) BeadChips (Illumina). EPIC array signal intensities were preprocessed and used to estimate site-specific DNA methylation levels, which were used for the estimation of several epigenetic clocks. Our study hypothesized that those with accelerated epigenetic age at the beginning of chemotherapy would be more likely to have modifications to their assigned chemotherapy regimen driven by a higher burden of chemotoxicities. We also hypothesized that epigenetic age acceleration would significantly increase over the course of chemotherapy and that a resistance training intervention would reduce the rate of change.]]>
Participants of the Focus on Reducing Dose-limiting Toxicities in Colon Cancer with Resistance Exercise Study (FORCE) trial were eligible for this study if they consented to the use of their blood samples for future research, which may include genetic testing. The inclusion and exclusion criteria for the FORCE trial are outlined under ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT03291951.]]>