Amanika Kumar, M.D.

Physical activity plays an important role in reducing the adverse effects of cancer treatment. There are few studies using prehabilitation to improve peri-operative outcomes in patients undergoing cancer surgery. This study will pilot a program of structured activity for women undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy with the intent to improve their physical state prior to surgical intervention and thus improve outcomes.

It has been shown that patients with advanced ovarian cancer may suffer from high levels of cancer –specific distress, depression and anxiety. It has also been proposed that psychological resilience can favorably affect psychological and treatment-related outcomes in cancer patients. Most current studied mindfulness-based interventions are limited by the time commitment required by the patient, which is difficult for patients with advanced cancer undergoing treatment, therefore we have created a virtual program that is more easily accessible by patients. 

Frailty is thought to be mediated by senescent cells and their dynamic secretome, referred to as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Senescent cells contribute to age-related tissue deterioration, inflammation, and fibrosis. A group of novel frailty biomarkers obtained at the time of diagnosis has been examined in advanced OC patients. Preliminary data show that these biomarkers strongly correlate with the clinical frailty phenotype, and define a frail subgroup of patients with higher treatment related morbidity and worse survival. These markers may represent important surrogate clinical trial endpoints, as well as deepen the understanding of aging in women with ovarian cancer. In this pilot, these markers and other surrogate endpoints for future novel translational research in the science of aging will be explored. 

The purpose of this study is to develop cell cultures specifically for the study of gynecological carcinomas using in vivo zebrafish tissue modeling, and to  establish a robust and reliable assay for predicting response to treatment on an individualized basis for Mayo Clinic cancer patients.