Active clinical trials for "Lung Neoplasms"

RATIONALE: Radiation therapy to the brain may be effective in preventing brain metastases in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. It is not yet known whether radiation therapy is more effective than observation in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying radiation therapy to the brain to see how well it works compared with observation in preventing brain metastases in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

This prospective, multi-center, observational study will assess the progression-free survival and safety of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer treated with Tarceva (erlotinib) and not disease progressing after at least 9 months. Data will be collected for 24 months.

The investigators have characterized in preclinical Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) models the proteomic expression profile associated with exposure to Aurora and Polo-like kinase inhibitors. The identification of proteomic expression patterns in patients with NSCLC would be an important step in defining the possible role of these agents as potential targeted therapies for this clinically important disease. This study proposes to evaluate resected non-small cell lung cancer specimens for these proteomic expression profiles.

RATIONALE: Studying samples of tumor tissue and blood from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer. PURPOSE: This research study is studying biomarkers in tumor tissue and blood samples from patients with small cell lung cancer registered on CALGB-140202.

RATIONALE: A disease management program may be more effective than standard therapy in improving quality of life and controlling symptoms in patients with cancer. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying a disease management program to see how well it works compared with usual care in patients with stage III or stage IV lung cancer, stage III or stage IV pancreatic cancer, stage III or stage IV ovarian cancer, or stage III or stage IV colorectal cancer, and their caregivers.

Summary: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. This neoplasia has a poor survival prognosis due to the low effectiveness of existing treatments. The low effectiveness is associated with the development of an intrinsic and acquired resistance of tumors, which clinically shows through early progression and transitory responses. Tobacco smoking is the major risk factor for NSCLC; however, wood smoke has been described as a strong carcinogen and a relevant risk factor for the development of NSCLC. Current data indicates that lung tumors associated with tobacco smoking and wood smoke show different clinical characteristics, which suggests that they might also have different genetic alterations, which are a consequence of tumor etiology. The description of the frequency and the type of mutations associated with different etiologies of NSCLC could represent the starting point for benefiting each patient according to their specific characteristics. One of the most researched signaling pathways related to cancer cell proliferation is the one activated by the K-RAS oncogene. Active K-RAS mutations have been detected in different types of neoplasia and more than 90% of these mutations occur at codon 12 of the oncogene. These mutations seem to be an independent risk factor for the prognosis of malignant tumors and they are associated with the lack of response to erlotinib, which is a tyrosine-kinase inhibitor. The investigators' research team has recently reported that wood smoke is an independent factor for survival and response to the erlotinib treatment, which suggests that this carcinogen could have a different frequency and pattern of mutations in the K-RAS oncogene, compared to what has been reported in smoking patients. Determining the tumor mutations within the K-RAS oncogene can help improve the response prognosis of patients with advanced NSCLC who have a background of exposure to different factors associated with the appearance of this neoplasia, such as wood smoke exposure or tobacco smoking. Therefore, the objective of this research is to determine the frequency and the type of mutations at codon 12 of the K-RAS oncogene in patients with NSCLC who have a background of exposure to tobacco smoking or wood smoke.

RATIONALE: Photodynamic therapy uses a drug that becomes active when it is exposed to a certain kind of light. When the drug is active, cancer cells are killed. This may be effective against non-small cell lung cancer. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how well photodynamic therapy using porfimer sodium works in treating patients with non-small cell lung cancer and bronchial disease.

This study aims to assess both the role and cost-effectiveness of EBUS in preoperative Non small cell lung cancer staging. This controlled multicentric study will be conducted in 22 centers in France. The study design includes two prospective phases. In phase 1, one investigator in each center will prospectively be evaluated for its ability to perform EBUS, with a required goal of 9 informative samplings out of 10 consecutive patients. The phase 2 will include the medico-economic assessment of the technique in the preoperative setting. A maximum of 420 patients for each phase is forecasted.

RATIONALE: Radiation therapy to the brain may be effective in preventing brain metastases in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. It is not yet known whether radiation therapy is more effective than observation in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying radiation therapy to the brain to see how well it works compared with observation in preventing brain metastases in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

RATIONALE: Studying samples of blood, urine, sputum, mouth cells, and bronchial tissue from healthy participants in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer. It may also help doctors learn more about the development of cancer. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is looking for molecular markers in predicting lung cancer development using tissue samples from healthy participants.