Active clinical trials for "Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial"

The objective of this study is to evaluate the willingness of patients with ovarian cancer to undergo genetic testing, given the cost, their understanding and acceptance of genetic testing and the possibility of targeted therapy.

Background: Monocytes are a type of white blood cell found in human blood. They help the immune system. Researchers have found that monocytes taken from the blood of healthy people can kill tumor cells. Now they want to know if monocytes taken from the blood of people with ovarian cancer can kill tumor cells. In addition, native host anti-tumor cell mediated immune mechanisms may play a role in clinical outcome of epithelial ovarian cancer; data indicate that the presence of intra-tumoral CD3+ T-cells was shown to prognosticate improved outcome in advanced ovarian cancer. Furthermore, non-cellular components in the blood, such as exosomes, may influence outcome. Objective: - To see if monocytes taken from the blood of people with ovarian cancer can kill tumor cells. Eligibility: - Women 18 years and older with ovarian cancer. Design: Participants will be screened with: Medical history and physical exam. Blood tests. CT scan of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis and/or an MRI. For these scans, they will lie in a machine that takes pictures of their body. A small amount of blood (two tubes) will be collected by needle during one visit.

Ovarian cancer is deadly and generally diagnosed at late stage when the chances of survival are low. There is a current belief that this cancer starts in the fallopian tubes and progresses towards the ovaries, spreading to the cells on the surface. Within the fallopian tubes and the uterus, there is a constant flow of mucus which has only one exit through the cervix and out the vagina. Proteins that are generated within the entire female reproductive system are trapped into this viscous fluid and eventually released as waste. When a routine PAP test is performed, a sample of this mucus is collected along with any cells, and preserved in the PAP fluid. The fluid is currently discarded but contains a protein profile showing of the status of the cells in the female reproductive system. We have examined this fluid and found that it contains unique peptides/proteins that provide a diagnosis of ovarian cancer when compared against healthy controls. These markers will be initially refined using the comparison of ovarian cancer patients against those with benign adnexal masses that entered the clinic during the same time period. In this Phase II biomarker validation study we will further refine and validate these biomarkers using a new collection of samples from at least 200 ovarian cancer cases with epithelial ovarian cancer (endometroid and papillary serous histology, most common) and comparing these against 600 patients with a diagnosis of a benign adnexal mass that enter the clinics during the same time period. Patient samples will be collected on their first visit to the gynecologic oncologist at a number of collaborating clinics. Final processing of all of the samples will be performed within the proteomics research facilities of the Mitchell Cancer Institute using Selected Reaction Monitoring (SRM, with mass spectrometry) based on the refined set of makers statistically selected within the first aim. Biomarkers validated within this study will be compared with the well accepted CA-125 data for the patients. The research involves a three year validation and may allow detection of this cancer at a very early stage when the survival is as high as 90%. One aim examines a self-taken test that could allow its use in medically underrepresented and rural areas.

The main goal of this study is to employ a novel proteomic approach to identify predictive tumor biomarkers that will increase the efficacy of insulin-like growth factor (IGF1R) targeted therapy in epithelial ovarian cancer. It is expected that these predictive biomarkers will be applied to increase the response rate in selected groups of patients.

: Stages III and IV serum ovarian cancer are the most lethal of all gynecologic cancers; however, some advanced-stage ovarian cancer patients are long-term survivors. These patients may provide the key to long-term survival and bring hope to all women with Stages III and IV ovarian cancer. There is no meaningful explanation of why some patients with ovarian cancer become long-term survivors and what their quality of life is long after their initial diagnosis. This research project will specifically determine molecular features within tumors along with genetic, quality of life, and lifestyle features that predict for long-term survival for patients with Stages III and IV ovarian cancer. It will bring together sophisticated molecular techniques, researchers with longstanding interest, a wide spectrum of consumer advocates (a number being long-term survivors), and quality of life experts to analyze the most carefully maintained patient database in the world-the Gynecologic Oncology Group database. We anticipate the results from this project will identify specific biochemical pathways and genetic features associated with long-term survival that can be used to improve the treatment, survival, and survivorship of patients with this disease. There is clearly something unique among patients who survive Stage III or IV ovarian cancer long term, and we believe that when we understand what this is, we can increase the number of long- and longer-term survivors.

Ovarian cancer is the first mortality rate of gynecologic malignancies. The incidence of ovarian cancer increased in recent 10 years and it has become the ninth cause of malignancies in the women in Taiwan. From the above-mentioned data, ovarian cancer indeed is a disease that should be respected, however, there were only few of research work focusing on it in Taiwan. Despite the widespread use of aggressive cytoreductive surgery and the introduction of chemotherapy regimens, the overall survival has changed little over the last two decades. The basic problem in treating epithelial ovarian cancer is that once it has spread beyond the ovary, it is exceedingly difficult to control and ultimately to cure. More than 70% of ovarian cancer patients were advanced stage when diagnosed. To study the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, progression, and metastasis of ovarian cancer will help us understand this disease and develop new treatment strategies for ovarian cancer in the future. We have established an ascites-generating intraperitoneal tumor cell line-WF3 in the mouse model in our previous two-year project of NSC grant (grant number (NSC90-2314-B-002-457 and NSC91-2341-B-002-315). Our group found that, mesothelin, this molecule is highly related with the carcinogenesis, tumor progression and tumor metastasis in our animal model and human cancer tissues. To further evaluate the role of mesothelin in ovarian cancer and elucidate the potential of mesothelin as a target antigen for immunotherapy,

This clinical trial studies the quality of life and care needs of patients with persistent or recurrent ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, or peritoneal cancer. Studying quality of life in patients with cancer may help determine the effects of gynecologic cancer and may help improve the quality of life for future cancer survivors.

Blood is collected from patients and cultured in a CimTube (a test tube with stimulation media) for several days. Following the culture step, the supernatant fluid is tested for the presence of CAAb on experimental test kits. Null Hypothesis: There is no relationship between the presence or absence of ovarian cancer (OC) and the CAAb i.e. d=0. Alternative Hypothesis: The expectation of the CAAb in the cancer population differs from that of the control population, i.e. m1 is not equal to m2. Since the sign of the difference is not important, the test will be two-sided.

RATIONALE: Collecting samples of tissue from patients with cancer to study in the laboratory may help doctors predict how well patients will respond to treatment with certain chemotherapy drugs and plan the best treatment. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is looking at tumor tissue samples to predict response to chemotherapy in patients with ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, or primary peritoneal cancer.

RATIONALE: Studying tissue and blood samples from patients with cancer 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 predict how patients respond to treatment. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is evaluating DNA to see how well it predicts response to treatment in patients with stage I, stage II, stage III, or stage IV ovarian epithelial cancer.