Grant: CIHR - ICR / Cancer Research Society Partnership - Res. Grants - Breast Cancer

Physical exercise is known to benefit people undergoing cancer treatment, but the biological reasons for these benefits are still not fully understood. Certain immune cells, called natural killer (NK) cells and CD8 T cells, play a key role in eliminating remaining cancer cells after treatment. A single session of exercise can rapidly increase the number of these powerful immune cells in the blood, and this effect appears stronger with higher exercise intensity. This study aims to understand how exercise activates these immune cells and helps them move toward tissues where cancer cells may remain. Using advanced single-cell technologies, we will analyze blood samples from breast cancer patients before and after moderate- and high-intensity exercise. By identifying how immune cells communicate with each other in response to exercise, this