Active clinical trials for "Testicular Neoplasms"

This study is a randomized controlled biobehavioral pilot trial designed to investigate the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a novel intervention, Goal-focused Emotion-Regulation Therapy (GET) aimed at improving distress symptoms, emotion regulation, goal navigation skills, and stress-sensitive biomarkers in young adult testicular cancer patients. Participants will be randomized to receive six sessions of GET or Individual Supportive Therapy (ISP) delivered over eight weeks. In addition to indicators of intervention feasibility, the investigators will measure primary (depressive and anxiety symptoms) and secondary (emotion regulation and goal navigation skills, career confusion) psychological outcomes prior to (T0), immediately after (T1) and twelve weeks after intervention at T2. Additionally, identified biomarkers will be measured at baseline and at T2.

This study targets patients with cisplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy and will allow us to: a) study peripheral neuropathy in diverse human sensory neurons in ways that were not possible previously; b) gain insight on druggable targets to treat or prevent this devastating side effect of chemotherapy; c) provide a human cellular model that can be used for screening of drugs to determine if they are neurotoxic. The combination of patient information and in vitro measurements provides a highly relevant and clinically useful model for studies aimed to impact treatment selection for the individual cancer patient.

The incidence of testicular germ cell tumors, the most common cancer in men aged 15 to 45 years, has doubled in France in 30 years. Reasons remain unclear but a role of environmental factors, especially during critical periods of development, is strongly suspected. Reliable data on environmental exposure during this critical period are sparse.The discordant findings and the limitations of available studies underline the importance to conduct studies with sufficient statistical power to detect risk due to exposures during critical windows of vulnerability. We conduct a multicentric case-control study to assess this association. Cases and controls will be enrolled during a 18-month period. They will be interviewed by professional telephone interviewers about their occupational and residential history and about their domestic exposure to pesticides and other nuisances. An optional biological study to assess genetic polymorphisms known to be associated with testicular cancer will be proposed to every cases and controls. Mothers (or close relative) of cases and controls will also be contacted (with son's agreement). If they agree to participate, they will also be interviewed about antenatal and early life exposure of their sons to pesticides and other nuisances. Cases will be matched up with 2 controls (one of each group) both on age (+/- 2 years) and on recruiting center.

This research trial studies deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) samples from younger patients with germ cell tumor and their parents or siblings. Studying samples of tumor tissue and saliva from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer.

For many years, researchers and doctors have studied different kinds of treatments to improve the survival of men with testicular cancer. However, recent research has shown that many years later, men who had testicular cancer appear to be at higher risk for developing heart disease (heart attack or heart failure), especially if they received chemotherapy. Since these studies were done many years after men received treatment, there was no way to know if other factors contributed to the health problems they experienced. This study is being done because it would be helpful to study heart function and cardiovascular disease risk factors of men who have been diagnosed with testicular cancer, before and after they receive chemotherapy treatment compared to men who receive treatment with surgery alone.

This study is a collaboration between the Clinical Genetics Branch of the National Cancer Institute and the International Testicular Cancer Linkage Consortium (ITCLC). The primary goal of the ITCLC is mapping and cloning susceptibility genes for familial TGCT. The objectives of the current study are to: Identify the genes responsible for testicular germ cell tumor (TGCT) (testicular cancer) in families with an inherited tendency to develop the disease Determine if the genes which predispose to developing testicular cancer also increase the risk of other specific types of cancer among first- and second-degree relatives of patients with TGCT Determine if the microscopic appearance of familial testicular cancers is different from that of non-familial TGCT Patients and family members recruited by the ITCLC in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Norway are eligible for this study. Individuals with the following medical criteria may participate: Patients with testicular germ cell cancer who have at least one other blood relative with the disease Family members of patients (first- and second-degree relatives) Participants undergo the following procedures: Fill out questionnaires for providing information about a history of cancer in all blood relatives, including parents, siblings, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and a history of undescended testes in male blood relatives. Participants may be asked permission to contact family members to request their help in the study as well. Provide a blood sample for genetic testing related to TGCT (except in children under 16 years old). Review of medical records and examination of tumor specimen (patients with TGCT only). Confirmation of the diagnosis of other types of cancer in these same families (medical records, pathology repots) Review of the testicular cancer tissue obtained at the time of surgery from members of multiple case families, and comparison of these findings with a series of TGCT which have developed in men without a family history.

Background: The Agricultural Health Study (AHS) studied farmers and their spouses in North Carolina and Iowa. It also included people who worked with pesticides in Iowa. They answered a questionnaire and gave data about their children born since 1975. Researchers want to link this data to public data like birth and death certificates. They want to study how early life exposures to farms are linked to cancer and other bad health outcomes. Objective: To study data to find links between early life farm exposure and negative health outcomes. Eligibility: There will be no human subjects. Design: Researchers will get public data in the two study states. This will come from things like: Birth certificates Driver s licenses Voter registration Death certificates Based on these plus the AHS data, they will create a study group. It will be called Early Life Exposure in Agriculture (ELEA). Researchers will link ELEA data to cancer data. This will identify prevalence of cancer. They will study parents answers on the AHS. The topics include farm practices and pesticide use. They will determine ELEA exposure to pesticides. Researchers will analyze the cancer and pesticide results and look for links.

Recent data (Srikanthan and Tran et al. JCO 2014, in press) have demonstrated that the presence of large retroperitoneal lymph node metastases on baseline staging scans (measuring >5cm in axial dimension) are associated with significantly increased risk of venous thromboembolism in patients receiving first line chemotherapy for disseminated germ cell tumours. This study, a G3 collaborative effort, aims to confirm these findings in a large multi-national validation cohort.

The investigators will perform a pilot study to gain insight into attitudes, barriers and facilitators for health behavior change in cancer patients and their partners. Results of this pilot will be used to design suitable questionnaires to investigate health behavior change in a larger cohort of patients and their partners. It will also direct future interventions to adequately target patients and, potentially, their partners to improve their lifestyle following a cancer diagnosis.

The patients enrolled on this new study will serve as an appropriate comparison group consisting of patients with the diagnosis of germ cell testicular cancer who were cured with surgical resection and did not receive cisplatin-based chemotherapy with a group of patients from another study who did receive cisplatin-based chemotherapy.