Cancer researchers at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee are enrolling participants in a new pilot study from the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer MoonshotSM initiative.
While many clinical trials study or compare treatments and sometimes obtain biopsies, this trial, called the Cancer MoonshotSM Biobank study, will obtain tissue and blood samples from participants with advanced cancer prior to treatment and again once their cancer has progressed despite molecular targeted therapies.
“The ultimate goal is to see if analysis of these tissue samples at different stages of cancer treatment can shed light on why cancer cells stop responding to treatment and what doctors can do when this happens,” said oncologist Peter Polewski, MD, Advocate Aurora Research Institute’s principal investigator for the study.
As part of the Cancer MoonshotSM Biobank study, participants will not receive a specific treatment. Instead, a centralized laboratory will analyze the matched tumor and blood to provide physicians and patients with a report that may be used to guide further treatment planning.
“Researchers will use the biospecimen analysis to determine not only how specific genes in a tumor sample affect the growth and spread of that tumor, but also how a patient’s treatment affects the genomic makeup of the tumor cells,” said Melissa Kadar, Director of the Research Institute’s Center of Excellence in Cancer Research.
After the tumor tissues have been analyzed, researchers will store the samples and associated medical information so that they can be used for future approved cancer research projects.
Researchers for the study plan to enroll approximately 1,000 participants ages 13 and older at sites throughout the country.
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