Clinical Research Directory

Population Based Germline Testing for Early Detection and Prevention of Cancer

PROTECT-C is a research study offering genetic testing to people to see whether they have a genetic change that increases their risk of breast, ovary, bowel, and/or womb cancer. This is regardless of whether they or their families have had cancer. Breast, ovary, bowel, and womb cancers make up half of all cancers in women. Around 15-20% (15 to 20 in 100 cases) of ovary and 3-4% (3 to 4 in 100 cases) of breast, womb, and bowel cancers are linked to cancer genes and may be prevented. People with a genetic change that puts them at increased risk of any of these cancers have ways to help them manage their risk through the NHS. This may include screening to find cancers earlier when they are easier to treat, and surgery or medication to prevent cancers from developing. This can save lives. Currently, genetic testing is only available on the NHS to people who meet certain criteria. For example, those who have had certain cancers, have a strong family history of cancer, or those with Jewish ancestry. But many people may not have a strong family history or meet NHS testing criteria. This means that this system of testing misses 50% to 80% of people (50 to 80 in 100 people) who have a genetic change. It is thought that only around 3 in 100 people overall who have a genetic change that increases their risk of cancer know about it. Given the effective screening and preventive options that are available, this represents a huge, missed opportunity to prevent cancers or find them earlier. The PROTECT-C study aims to evaluate the option of offering genetic testing to everyone who may want it. This is regardless of whether they or their families have had cancer. We will offer genetic testing to 5000 people. People may take part if they: * Are over the age of 18 years and * Are a woman, trans man, or non-binary person with female reproductive organs (ovaries, fallopian tubes, and/or a uterus) and * Have never had genetic testing for the cancer genes tested for in the study and * Do not have first-degree family members (e.g.: parent, sibling, child) or second-degree family members (e.g.: aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, grandchild, grandparent, half-sibling) with genetic changes in the cancer genes tested for in the study PROTECT-C is a completely digital study. The study team will give participants access to an app developed specifically for this study. They can download this app using a smartphone or tablet or access it on any internet browser using a computer or laptop. Before they can access the app, participants will need to complete a consent form. They will also be asked to fill in a short questionnaire about themselves and their health. The PROTECT-C app contains information to help participants decide if they would like to have genetic testing. If they decide to have genetic testing, they will complete a consent form for genetic testing on the app. The study team will send them a saliva based test kit in the post. The study will look at how many people decide to have genetic testing and how many of them are found to have a genetic change. It will evaluate their experience with using the app and how this approach to genetic testing affects their quality-of-life, satisfaction, and mental well-being. This will give us a better understanding of how well the app works as a way of offering genetic testing to people. The study is interested to see how people found to be at increased risk decide to manage their risk. We will assess the uptake of screening and prevention options. Few participants will be invited to have 1:1 interviews by the study team. This will evaluate their experience of making a decision about genetic testing and taking part in the study. Taking part in these interviews is optional. The study will also assess if this way of offering genetic testing to people is affordable for the NHS.

Peer Support For Young Adult Women With High Breast Cancer Risk

This trial will recruit young adult female relatives (YARs) of male or female carriers of BRCA1/2. YARs who consent to participate will be randomized to either a 3-session peer coach-led telephone counseling intervention or usual care navigation to peer support interventions provided by community organizations that support the hereditary cancer community. Study aims are to 1) Assess intervention effects on distress and decision making outcomes, including uptake of counseling for untested YARs, 2) Identify YARs most likely to engage with and benefit from the intervention, 3) Understand intervention mechanisms. Participants will complete interviews at baseline, 1, 6, and 12 months.

Mirai-MRI: Validation of AI Models for Breast Cancer Risk

This is a multi-center, single arm trial to evaluate the cancer detection rate of supplemental screening magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in participants who are high-risk by Mirai-MRI assessment. Mirai is an accurate cancer risk model based on full-resolution mammograms.

Effects of Tirzepatide on Blood, Imaging and Breast Tissue Biomarkers

Evaluation of biomarkers for risk of developing breast cancer in women with obesity who are using tirzepatide to achieve weight loss.

Rutgers University Study of the Genetics of Breast Cancer.

The goal of this observational study is to learn more about how genes impact the risk of breast cancer. Anyone 18 or older living in the US is eligible, and a diagnosis of cancer is NOT required. Study participation is online, and it takes about 20 minutes to complete health surveys and request a saliva collection kit sent through US mail. In return, study participants may opt to receive information about their genetic ancestry at no cost.

Effect of Web-based Nursing Navigator Programme on Breast Cancer Screening Behaviors in Women at High Risk of Breast Cancer

The aim of this project is to determine the effect of the Web-Based Nurse Navigation Program on breast cancer screening behaviors (mammography, BSE, CBE) in women at high risk of breast cancer. The program to be developed within the scope of the project is named as "Web-Based Nurse Navigation Program (WeT-HNP)", which reflects the web-based and navigation concepts.

Uptake of Genetic Counseling Among African American Women

A feasibility study incorporating an educational intervention with cancer genetic risk assessment (CGRA) in the UI Health mammography center

Development of New Methodologies and Innovative Tools for the diagnoSi and Therapeutic Treatment of uMAni Epithelial Tumors

The main objective of the SISTEMA project is to develop non-invasive diagnostic tests for the detection and quantification in blood of markers of Mesenchymal Epithelial Transition, a mechanism that characterises certain types of cancer such as breast and lung cancer. Cancer is still one of the leading causes of death in Western countries. In 2014, there were an estimated 1,665,540 new cancer cases and 585,720 deaths in the United States alone. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Eurostat predict 1,323,600 deaths in Europe, a figure slightly down on previous statistics but still underlining the existence and seriousness of the problem. It is no coincidence that cancer is one of the main areas of investment in the European Horizon 2020 programme. In recent years, the hypothesis that the process of carcinogenesis is driven by the activation of a particular panel of genes/proteins that enable cancer cells to acquire malignant characteristics has become increasingly popular. This process goes by the name Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) and characterises all human epithelial tumours. This process allows epithelial tumour cells to acquire mesenchymal characteristics giving them stem, invasive, and chemoresistant properties.

EMPOWER-1: A Multi-site Clinical Cohort Research Study to Reduce Health Inequality

Health inequality and genetic disparity are a significant issue in the United Kingdom (UK). This study focuses on diseases that are associated with significant morbidity and mortality in the UK, and specifically examines the extent and basis of treatment failure in different patient populations. The vast majority of drug registration clinical trials have under-representation of ethnic minority populations. In addition, the wider Caucasian populations have reasonably different clinical characteristics to the population that participated in the drug licencing clinical trials. A consequence of this is that drugs are licensed for use in real-world general patient populations where the clinical trial results are simply not statistically significant to specifically demonstrate efficacy or safety in populations that were either absent or under-represented in the drug registration clinical trials. When these facts are considered alongside data that supports significant under-reporting of adverse events in the real-world setting within the UK (and globally, e.g the USA and Europe), it highlights that pharmacovigilance systems are unable to capture drug effectiveness and safety data in a manner that can reasonably assure appropriate prescribing in the wider patient populations. This large real-world research study aims to identify whether commonly prescribed drugs are effective in treating illnesses that cause significant poor health and death in the different patient populations that represent the UK. The goal of this study is to generate large quantitative data-sets that may inform clinical practice to reduce the existing health inequality and genetic disparity in the UK.

A Randomized Controlled Trial to Increase Breast Cancer Screening Uptake

Breast cancer (BC) is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. In Hong Kong (HK), BC is the most common cancer, ranking third in cancer deaths among females. International guidelines advocate regular mammographic screening for women aged 40-50 to 69-74, reducing BC mortality by 20%. The success and effectiveness of an organized cancer screening program are largely dependent on high adherence or uptake rates. However, nonadherence to BC screening is common and the suboptimal uptake rate remains a challenge, particularly in Asian countries. Conventional interventions are effective in increasing mammographic screening uptake but are time-consuming, labor-dependent, and expensive. Mobile messenger chatbots are a potential cost-saving tool for enhancing BC screening uptake because they involve only a one-off development cost and a small maintenance cost . Currently, most studies evaluating the effectiveness of mobile health interventions in improving mammography screening uptake have been conducted in Western populations . Health-seeking behaviors for cancer screening in the Chinese population differ from those of Caucasians because of differences in culture, health beliefs, and education, especially regarding breast-related diseases. Chinese women often feel embarrassed when talking with healthcare workers in person about breast health. Communicating with a fully automated chatbot can minimize embarrassment. Additionally, linguistically and culturally tailored interventions are effective in increasing cancer screening rates in the Chinese population. However, studies evaluating combined theory-based mHealth interventions to enhance BC screening uptake are scarce. Two theory-based WhatsApp chatbots were developed to promote CRC screening, and the longitudinal repeat fecal immunochemical test (FIT) adherence rate of a population-based CRC screening program in HK. These two chatbots used in investigator's previous studies had designs similar to that of the proposed chatbot, except for the health education materials. The chatbot design can be adopted directly with minor modifications to the workflow, replacement of content from CRC screening-related to BC screening-related, and culturally modified education materials. Consequently, the investigators can develop a new chatbot for this study at a lower cost and in a shorter time.

The RISC Registry--Risk Informed Screening Registry

Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. Six in ten adults have one chronic disease; 4 in 10 have two or more. These are also leading drivers of the nation's $4.1 trillion in annual health care costs. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death for men and women, cancer is the second largest, with breast cancer being the second largest cause of death in women. Diabetes is the 8th highest cause of death for both men and women. Routine screening, a focus on prevention, early detection, and patient engagement with proposed care plans, effective surveillance and follow up are some of the most effective ways to reduce the burden of chronic diseases across an individual's lifetime and at the population level. Estimating dollar costs associated with non-compliance with screening and health management recommendations is complex and variable depending on the specific context, disease, and condition. But there is much evidence to indicate that a significant amount of these annual costs can be mitigated if compliance with health management recommendations increases, and health problems are prevented or detected early. Access to screening and noncompliance with health management recommendations impact the entire population, but more disparities exist in racial and ethnic minorities and in the historically underserved for cancer, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The overall cost of these disparities in the U.S. has been estimated at around 1.24 trillion U.S. Dollars. The RISC Registry seeks to pursue the intersection of breast cancer, metabolic, and cardiovascular risk in women and study the application of individualized multi-condition risk assessments, risk-informed or personalized screening, prevention and follow up care approaches in a broad cross section of patients. It pursues the hypothesis that these approaches accompanied by population appropriate methods of clinician and patient engagement may increase understanding and compliance with breast cancer, obesity, and metabolic/cardiovascular/cardiometabolic risk screening, surveillance and follow up recommendations by empowering women to make healthier choices. In doing so, these methods may identify ways to address disparities in screening and patient care and ultimately promote early detection or even reversal of adverse health conditions, improve overall personal health, and reduce overall health care costs. The primary focus is cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic health screening with a focus on utilization of Precision Screening. (Precision Screening attempts to separate those who will benefit from screening from those that may not, through use of information on disease risk.) The study will start by focusing on women and risk for these diseases and health conditions.