Active clinical trials for "Breast Neoplasms"

Women with metastatic breast cancer, receiving first line treatment of any kind (chemotherapy, endocrine treatment or treatment with antibodies) will be included in this trial. In connection to treatment, blood samples for determination and enumeration of circulating tumour cells will be collected at different time points. Serum and plasma will be collected and stored for future analysis of RNA and DNA.

Women with breast cancer often suffer significant distress and disability from their disease. A practice of meditation-based stress reduction and cognitive-affective-behavioral learning may help women with breast cancer decrease their suffering and improve their quality of life.

RATIONALE: Learning about thyroid dysfunction in patients with breast cancer may help plan treatment and may help patients live more comfortably. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how often thyroid dysfunction happens in women with newly diagnosed stage I, stage II, or stage III breast cancer who are planning to undergo chemotherapy compared to how often it happens in healthy volunteers.

RATIONALE: Studying samples of tumor tissue from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors identify and learn more about biomarkers related to cancer. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is collecting skin biopsy specimens from patients receiving irinotecan or gemcitabine for advanced solid tumors and using them to study change in DNA due to this treatment.

The purpose of this study is to learn about the effects of stress on hormones, the relationship between these hormones and cancer progression.

This study will examine the relationship of a protein called pAKT to survival of breast cancer patients with one or more positive axillary lymph nodes. Akt plays a role in cell survival, tumor formation, and the development of drug resistance. The study will use tumor tissue obtained from 2,000 patients enrolled in a National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project study that is evaluating whether adding the drug paclitaxel (Taxol (Registered Trademark)) to a treatment regimen of doxorubicin (Adriamycin (Registered Trademark)) and cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan (Registered Trademark)) improves disease-free survival and overall survival in patients with node-positive breast cancer. The current study will measure levels of pAkt in the tissues and correlate the results with clinical outcome to see if pAkt levels are associated with improved patient survival. ...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the safety and imaging ability of 111In-DAC when used with planar and SPECT imaging for the detection of breast cancer.

RATIONALE: Comparing results of diagnostic procedures performed before, during, and after chemotherapy may help doctors predict a patient's response to treatment and help plan the most effective treatment. PURPOSE: Diagnostic trial to study magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and biomarkers in women who are receiving chemotherapy before surgery for locally advanced breast cancer.

The efficacy of peer counseling for weight loss maintenance is being tested in obese and overweight African American breast cancer survivors.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy for breast cancer may damage the genes of cells. This may lead to the development of secondary cancers. PURPOSE: Pilot study to evaluate the degree of gene damage following chemotherapy in women with stage II or stage III breast cancer involving four to nine axillary lymph nodes.