Flourishing in Cancer Survivorship

With advancements in prevention and treatment, the cancer mortality rate is on the decline. At the same time, cancer incidence continues to rise for many common cancers. It’s now more critical than ever that researchers examine ways to improve quality of life for this growing population of cancer survivors.

From Baylor’s Department of Health, Human Performance, and Recreation in the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, assistant professors Cory Dungan, Ph.D., and Michael Wiggs, Ph.D., who specialize in exercise physiology, are exploring ways to combat muscle loss in cancer survivors — particularly, pediatric survivors.

Children tend to have a higher likelihood of surviving cancer. What this often means, however, is that for the rest of their lives, these survivors are more likely to suffer from some sort of complication associated with skeletal muscles and develop comorbidities like diabetes or cardiovascular issues.

“If we can improve muscle health early on, then we may be able to prevent a lifetime of negative consequences,” Dungan said. “If our research is successful, we could improve a child’s physical and metabolic health for decades.”

Their current study examines the effects of chemotherapy on muscle stem cells, which are constantly dividing at a rapid rate as children grow and develop. Fortunately for cancer cells and unfortunately for muscle stem cells, chemotherapy is excellent at killing rapidly dividing cells. To combat the destruction of these developmentally essential stem cells, Wiggs and Dungan are leveraging novel pharmaceutical agents to help increase the health, stability and proliferation of the stem cells prior to the administration of chemotherapy.

“When we’re working with children with cancer, we’re often talking about ‘surviving the cure,’” Wiggs added. “Cancer is a major battle, but it’s often short-term. The true long-term battle for pediatric survivors is the consequences of the chemotherapy after the cancer is cured or gone.”