Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42738403›Full record

ReviewCancers2026

Exercise as a Disease-Modifying Therapy in Colon Cancer: Practice-Changing Evidence from the CHALLENGE Trial.

Dai Shida

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Cancers, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Dai ShidaDivision of Frontier Surgery, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan.ORCID 0000-0003-3294-1924

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Although robust observational data have long associated physical activity with improved colon cancer survival, the lack of randomized evidence has perpetuated a "causality gap," confining exercise to supportive lifestyle advice and creating a clinical dilemma for surgeons. This paradigm has been fundamentally reshaped by the landmark phase III CHALLENGE trial. This review synthesizes the clinical, epidemiological, and translational evidence establishing exercise as a validated, disease-modifying intervention. In the CHALLENGE trial, a 3-year structured physical activity program significantly improved both disease-free survival (HR 0.72) and overall survival (HR 0.63) in patients with resected stage III or high-risk stage II colon cancer post-adjuvant chemotherapy, demonstrating a clinically meaningful additive benefit following completion of standard adjuvant chemotherapy. Mechanistically, exercise drives a multi-layered host-tumor reprogramming. Each acute exercise bout triggers transient surges of muscle-derived myokines (e.g., IL-6, SPARC) and immune-cell mobilization, enhancing natural killer and CD8

Indexed as

CHALLENGE trialcolon cancerdisease-modifying therapyexercise oncologyinsulin/IGF-1 axismyokinesphysical activity

Identifiers

PMID42738403
PMCPMC13565172

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.