Active clinical trials for "Neoplasms"

FLT3 overexpression in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is often caused by mutations in this gene. These mutations cause constitutive phosphorylation of FLT3 proteins leading to increased proliferation and survival, decreased apoptosis and resistance to chemotherapeutic agents in AML cells. There are two major types of FLT3 mutations- internal tandem duplication (ITD) and point mutation at 835th amino residue. AMLs with FLT3 mutations have worse prognosis and are often resistant to conventional chemotherapy. Several small molecule compounds targeting FLT3 have been in the market or in clinical trials. Therefore, identification of these mutations at the time of diagnosis will provide a better prognostic prediction, might guide the treatment selection and follow-up strategies. In this study, the investigators will develop a sensitive molecular assay to detect FLT3 mutations for future clinical application. The investigators will collect 100 AML samples with at least 20 samples with known FLT3 mutations. The investigators will compare this assay with commonly used methods and standardize the procedure to meet the requirement of clinical pathology laboratory with reasonable cost.

Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP) is a rare skin condition that causes extreme sensitivity to the sun and an increased incidence of skin cancers. The purpose of this study is to find out more about XP patient experiences and their quality of life.

The main component in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is consist of anthracycline (such as daunorubicin or idarubicin) and cytarabine. Inter-individual variability of transport/metabolism of the chemotherapeutic agent and several genetic pathways involved in the drug action might be associated with different response following the treatment for AML usually consisted of chemotherapy and/or transplantation. One of potential pathways involved in the drug action is DNA repair pathway, accordingly single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the DNA repair machinery pathway might be a predictive marker for therapy outcomes in AML. Several genes were involved in the DNA repair machinery which are 1) Nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) pathway involved in the G1/S phase, 2) Homologous recombinational repair (HRR) pathway involved in the S/G2 phase. XRCC4, LIG4, MRN and ATM are well known genes involved in the NHEJ pathway, while MRE11, RAD50, NBS1 (MRN), RAD51, XRCC2, XRCC3, RAD51B, RAD51C, RAD 51D, RAD52 or RAD54 are known to be associated with HRR pathway. A study suggested that the SNPs in the DNA repair pathway was involved in the susceptibility of secondary AML developing after chemotherapy or autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, thus these SNP markers could become a predictive marker for secondary AML. However, it has never been investigated for multiple candidate pathways simultaneously with relateively larger number of patients. Accordingly, the current study attempts to investigate the potential role of the genotype markers in multiple candidate pathways, esp. focused on the DNA repair machinery, with respect to response following chemotherapy or survival of AML patients. Total of over 500 archived samples from the patients diagnosed as acute myeloid leukemia at the Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea will be included, and genomic DNAs will be extracted and will be examined for their genotypes of the candidate SNPs involved in the DNA repair pathways. Then statistical analysis will be pursued for single marker analysis, haplotype analysis and for the construction of genetic risk model based on the multivariate analysis.

MERIT-NHL as an addendum to the International Registry of Radioimmunotherapy (RIT registry) pooling clinical data of patients who suffered from a non-Hodgkin´s lymphoma also includes the documentation of the respective FDG-PET and CT-image files in an online archive. Based on these documented clinical and imaging data, the MERIT study group centrally performs an intra- as well as interindividual evaluation of follicular CD20+ lymphoma lesions before and after radioimmunotherapy. According to this, the aim of the MERIT-NHL study is to prospectively identify yet unknown patient- and lesion specific prognostic factors predicting patient´s outcome in line with the therapeutic modality radioimmunotherapy.

Cancer is the leading cause of mortality in the investigators country. According to the statistics of the Department of Health, the incidence of ovarian cancer increased in recent years and the mortality rate is highest in all gynecologic malignancies in Taiwan. Ovarian cancer becomes a more and more important disease gradually in the field of gynecologic malignancies. The classification of histology in ovarian cancer included epithelial ovarian cancer、germ cell tumors、sex-cord cell tumors…etc. Epithelial ovarian carcinoma is the most common ovarian cancer clinically. Early diagnosis is difficult due to the lack of obvious initial symptoms, so ovarian cancer patients are usually at advanced stage when the diagnosis is confirmed. The prognostic parameters for ovarian carcinomas include tumor stage, histological subtype, degree of malignancy, residual tumor after surgical intervention and the response to chemotherapy. However, the possible etiology and mechanism of ovarian cancer is still unclear. However, there is no epidemiologic data of ovarian cancer in Taiwan. Therefore the investigators propose this study to use Taiwan registry database provided by Department of Health to analyze the epidemiology and prognosis of ovarian cancer patients in Taiwan.

Although interim 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET)/computerized tomography (CT) scan has emerged as a powerful prognostic tool in predicting treatment outcome in Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) and diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the positive predictive value (PPV) of interim PET/CT scanning has not been determined in patients with peripheral T cell lymphoma (PTCL). The sequential interim PET/CT will be prospectively investigated to determine whether it provided additional prognostic information and could be a positive predictable value for the treatment of PTCL.

The purpose of this project is to examine whether the risk of developing ovarian cancer is increased in Danish women with congenital missing teeth as a result of their failure to develop (hypodontia). Should this prove to be the case, these women could be offered regular clinical controls and prophylactic removal of their ovaries when menopause enters and the ovaries are no longer functional (producing hormones). If there is a connection between congenital hypodontia and the development of different types of cancer, the investigators will perform a genetic screening in families with increased risk of cancer and hypodontia for changes in relevant genes, based on the current literature. The investigators hereby search for new genes, which in a changed form leads to an increased risk of cancer and thereby enables us to perform genetic screening in risk families.

Primary To determine the presence and frequency of novel and known UGT1A6 and UGT2B7 polymorphisms in healthy Chinese, Malay and Indian subjects. To determine the presence and frequency of novel and known UGT1A6 and UGT2B7 polymorphisms in Chinese lung cancer patients with squamous cell and adenocarcinoma subtype. To analyze the functional variations in UGT1A6 and UGT2B7 polymorphisms. Secondary 1 To study the correlation of UGT1A6 and UGT2B7 polymorphisms with lung cancer type.

Study Objectives: To collect and describe demographics, disease-management, and treatment outcomes of Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) patients who are newly diagnosed and classified according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. To perform observational studies concerning relevant scientific research questions in MDS using clinical data and biological samples, and to present relevant research outcomes in the fields of diagnosis and prognostication, health related quality of life issues, health economics, and risk stratification for newly developed classes of drugs. To disseminate results of the studies to all stakeholders involved.

F18-FDG is the widely used PET tracer in the routine practice of oncologic disease imaging using the technology of PET-CT. However, FDG-avidity is a characteristic of the individual tumor. There are various types of human malignancies, which are not taking FDG in access. In these cases FDG is not a sensitive tracer of imaging. In search for other tumor PET tracers, C11-Acetate has been shown recently in a few early studies to have a potential value in imaging of non-FDG-avid tumors. The purpose of the current study is to assess the role of 11C-acetate PET in various tumors, which often are not detected by 18F-FDG and were not widely assessed until now.