PROSPECT - Profiling of Resistance Patterns & Oncogenic Signaling Pathways in Evaluation of Cancers of the Thorax and Therapeutic Target Identification
This study will use therapeutic target-focused (TTF) profiling, genome-wide mRNA profiling, and assessments of tumor phosphopeptides and DNA that are shed into the bloodstream to define how various molecular factors alone and in combination relate to resistance to therapy, to prognosis, and to metastatic patterns at relapse. This study will examine how the presence of factors that drive cell growth, antagonize apoptosis, or confer resistance in other ways may counter the effect of systemic therapies and/or promote rapid tumor recurrence. In this way, the investigators will identify new, previously unappreciated potential therapeutic targets while also identifying which targets are most likely to increase resistance to therapy and worsen prognosis.
ID: NCT05049837
Sponsor; Collaborators: MD Anderson Cancer Center; US Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Location: MD Anderson Cancer Center
Tribally Engaged Approaches to Lung Screening (TEALS)
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality among American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), and AI/AN have worse lung cancer incidence rates, survival, and death compared to the general population. Because lung cancer screening (LCS) with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) has been shown to reduce lung cancer mortality by roughly 20%, the US Preventive Services Task Force now recommends LCS for persons aged 55 to 80 years who meet specific eligibility criteria (grade-B evidence), and subsequently the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) opted to cover this test. However, the uptake of LCS implementation has been slow in most health care systems, and LCS implementation among AI/AN has never been studied.
To address this knowledge, the Tribally Engaged Approaches to Lung Screening (TEALS) study, a collaborative effort between the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, the Stephenson Cancer Center, and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, will address the following over the course of 5 years: conduct focus groups and semistructured interviews with Choctaw Nation Health Services Authority (CNHSA) patients, clinicians, and health administrators to elucidate individual- and system-level barriers and facilitators that affect the implementation of LCS; develop an LCS care coordination intervention that will identify eligible persons for LCS, help these patients navigate the screening process, and link them with smoking cessation services, when applicable; measure the impact of the TEALS intervention on the receipt of screening and a set of patient- and practice-level outcomes by conducting a cluster-randomized clinical trial of LCS implementation; and disseminate the TEALS program to other researchers and healthcare systems that serve AI/AN patients. TEALS will bridge the gap between evidence and clinical practice for LCS in a high-need, low-resource setting by intervening at the level of the healthcare system.
System-level interventions for guideline implementation tend to be understudied compared to those evaluating individual-level, behavioral interventions. However, the careful development and evaluation of an LCS screening program at the level of the healthcare system would be critical to ensure that more patients can receive LCS. Our research will create a critically needed platform from which future studies could be launched that will examine how to tailor the application of the LCS guideline to the individual preferences of AI/AN patients. TEALS will establish an effective LCS program in a tribal system and thus provide a direct benefit to the Choctaw Nation by increasing LCS participation. TEALS will serve as a blueprint for establishing a sustainable and accessible infrastructure for LCS in AI/AN and other community health systems. By increasing screening for early stage lung cancer, TEALS could ultimately reduce lung cancer mortality in AI/AN communities.
ID: NCT04948060
Sponsor; Collaborator: University of Oklahoma; Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Location: University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center