Titles and Affiliations
Assistant Professor, Department of Breast Medical Oncology
Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation
Research Area
Evaluating how exercise impacts immunotherapy efficacy in triple-negative breast cancer.
Impact
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive disease with limited treatment options, and while adding immunotherapy to chemotherapy has improved outcomes, many patients still need better strategies. Exercise may strengthen the immune system, helping it work alongside immunotherapy to better attack tumors. For her Conquer Cancer Research supported by BCRF, Dr. Sukumar is launching a clinical trial to test whether a structured exercise program can boost the effectiveness of combination immunotherapy plus chemotherapy in patients with TNBC.
What’s Next
The clinical trial will enroll 27 patients with stage 2 to 3 TNBC to test a structured 7-week aerobic exercise program combined with standard treatments given before surgery. They will track feasibility and adherence, anti-tumor immune cells in the patients’ blood, and patient reported outcomes. If successful, this approach could offer patients a simple, low-cost way to improve treatment response and quality of life.
Biography
Jasmine Sukumar, MD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Breast Medical Oncology at MD Anderson. She completed the dual BA/MD program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City followed by internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She subsequently joined The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center for medical oncology fellowship and breast cancer focused subspecialty training. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in breast cancer control and metabolic health. She was also competitively selected for 2021 TREC Workshop, an NIH-funded research training program through the Yale School of Public Health for investigators in energetics and transdisciplinary cancer research. She has received national grant funding through an Conquer Cancer Foundation, The NIH (K12 program), and the Robert A Winn Excellence in Clinical Trials Career Develop Award. She has published in peer reviewed journals such as Cancers, JCO Oncology Practice, and Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. In addition to treating patients with breast cancer, she is a clinical investigator with a focus on energy balance and cancer; this includes body composition and lifestyle behaviors in the context of breast cancer survivorship and risk reduction. Her goal is to design personalized lifestyle intervention that will lead to improvements in weight loss and physical functioning, ultimately positively impacting quality of life and cancer risk in breast cancer patients.
