Minority populations have a significant increase in cancer-associated risk factors and increased incidence of preventable diseases including cancer compared to their non-minority counterparts. Prevention measures such as lifestyle intervention and vaccination to prevent viral infections linked to human carcinogenesis have demonstrated promising results in minority populations, yet, there is still much to learn surrounding an individual?s risk of cancer and new opportunities to intervene before cancer arises, including new and exciting approaches in immunoprevention. However, limitations in comprehensive approaches to assess immune responses and immunomodulatory properties of putative cancer prevention agents have muted the implementation of these agents in the prevention window. Novel approaches for determining the role of the immune system in cancer development and prevention in combination with a comprehensive evaluation of immunomodulatory properties of putative prevention agents are required for future progress in this arena. This complexity is enhanced by variations in immune responses between individual patients or subpopulations, which must also be considered. This begins with the successful recruitment and retention of a cohort of diverse individuals to participate in clinical research trials of novel cancer prevention agents to conduct these analyses.
The specific aims of this diversity supplement are designed to address these specific issues: 1) Examine the feasibility of novel technologies to improve assessing immunomodulatory effects of study agents and immune signatures associated with response, 2) Explore new strategies to improve recruitment and retention of study participants especially minorities to participate in CP-CTNet prevention trials, 3) Provide training opportunities to an underrepresented early-stage investigator, Dr. Centuori, in clinical and translational chemoprevention/immunoprevention research. Through these studies we expect to determine the feasibility of the novel approaches and apply them to future UA CT-CTNet trials, enhance the understanding of complex immune responses associated with cancer prevention and generate highly relevant data to define the immunomodulatory potential of putative study agents. Furthermore, by imploring new recruitment and retention strategies specifically aimed at minority recruitment we expect that these findings will be greatly applicable to minority populations. Through participation in the proposed research and training activities Dr. Centuori will gain fundamental expertise in the performance of successful early phase cancer prevention trials as well as develop expertise in minority recruitment and community outreach to help her achieve her ultimate career goal of continuing to perform impactful clinical research in chemoprevention/immunoprevention and biomarker development in a manner which best serves diversity populations and reduces cancer health disparities by providing precision prevention to all.
Advances in the etiology and progression of cancer have led to the identification of novel approaches for cancer prevention, including new and exciting approaches in immunoprevention. However, limitations in comprehensive approaches to assess immune responses and immunomodulatory properties of putative cancer prevention agents, specifically in minority subpopulations have muted the successful implementation of these agents in the prevention window. The overall objective of this proposal is to identify novel technologies capable of assessing the complex immune contexture of individuals participating in clinical cancer prevention trials and to explore new strategies to improve recruitment and retention of study participants especially minorities to participate in these trials to help reduce cancer heath disparities and improve precision prevention for all.
