None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The purpose of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Stafford Fox Rare Cancer Program is to use blood, tumour tissue and eyebrow hair samples from patients with rare cancers to study these types of cancers in detail. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you have cancer that is considered rare, occurring in less than 6 people for every 100,000 diagnosed per year. There are literally hundreds of different types of rare or less common cancers. In fact most cancers, except breast, prostate, bowel, lung and skin melanoma, can be considered rare or less common. Examples are soft tissue cancers (sarcomas), brain tumours, cervical cancers, thyroid cancers, liver cancers, testicular cancers and many more. The researchers are also interested if a person has had three or more different types of cancers in their lifetime. Study details By consenting to this study, all participants may choose to donate suitable tissue (blood, tumour tissue and eyebrow hairs) for analysis which will help us to better understand the biology driving the development of their rare cancer/s. Participants in this study will then be contacted by their research doctor on a regular basis (every six-twelve months) to ask about their general health for up to 5 years. We hope that in doing these analyses, novel regulatory mechanisms could be discovered which will allow more effective treatments to be developed.
Interventions
The purpose of the WEHI Stafford Fox Rare Cancer Program is to use blood, eyebrow hair and tumour tissue samples from patients with rare cancers to study these types of cancers in detail. Understanding how rare cancers develop and how best to treat them may help doctors to better select appropriate treatment options for future patients.
After enrolment, data will be collected about patients' medical histories including details about the cancer, when/how it was diagnosed, the kinds of cancer tre
The purpose of the WEHI Stafford Fox Rare Cancer Program is to use blood, eyebrow hair and tumour tissue samples from patients with rare cancers to study these types of cancers in detail. Understanding how rare cancers develop and how best to treat them may help doctors to better select appropriate treatment options for future patients. After enrolment, data will be collected about patients' medical histories including details about the cancer, when/how it was diagnosed, the kinds of cancer treatments given, and progress on these treatments. This may include information on medical file including results of past scans and any molecular or special testing previously performed on the cancer, including genetic tests. Information about other health problems and health information about patient's relatives relating to cancer or genetic conditions that run in the family may be collected. Patients will have the option to provide eight eyebrow hairs at the start of the study, up to three blood samples per year for gene sequencing, and tumour tissue samples for gene sequencing and analysis of proteins. The tissue samples may have been previously collected and archived in a hospital laboratory or tissue bank, or may be taken as a fresh tumour sample if surgery is recommended as part of the treatment of the cancer. Patients will be asked fill out one brief questionnaire about their ability to perform daily activities which can be done at the hospital or by mail. Patients will then be contacted by their research doctor on a regular basis (every six-twelve months) to ask about their general health, if their disease has worsened, and if they have started any new anti-cancer treatments. Patients will be enrolled in the WEHI SFRCP over a period of 5 years.
Sponsors
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
- Aged 18 years or older, with signed informed consent and ability to comply with the protocol. - Access to tumour tissue must be available from core biopsy or surgical resection from a disease site (cytology alone is insufficient for diagnosis). - Histologically confirmed rare histopathology diagnosis according to the RARECARE group definition, < 6 per 100,000 population incidence per year (Gatta, 2011). - Malignancy where little evidenced-based care or standard of care therapies exist. - Tumour type associated with a poor outcome (patients with a very good prognosis cancer type will not be prioritized for this study). - A less common or common tumour type associated with a rare molecular subtype.
Exclusion criteria
- Patients who are unable or unwilling, to consent to the study.
Outcome results
None listed