RATIONALE: Studying samples of tumor tissue in the laboratory from patients with cancer 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 will respond to treatment. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is looking at biomarkers in predicting response to treatment in patients who have undergone surgery for pancreatic cancer.
OBJECTIVES: * To determine if a method of extracting and identifying biomarkers (i.e., secreted cytokines and growth factors) from tissues of the quantity obtained from typical biopsy can now be applied in the setting of pancreatic cancer * To correlate pre-treatment biomarkers with recurrence, overall survival, and tumor response to radiotherapy and chemotherapy in patients with pancreatic cancer. OUTLINE: Tumor tissue specimens are obtained from the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center Human Tissue Acquisition Core and analyzed for biomarkers (e.g., integrity of DNA repair pathways as analyzed by Rad51 and phosphorylated DNA-PK foci formation). The biomarkers are correlated with clinical outcomes (recurrence, overall survival, and tumor response to treatment). Patients are followed for recurrence, relapse, and death from disease.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
50
Using material that is already being acquired as a component of clinical care (only that which is excess after routine clinical care), it will be determined if pre-treatment markers can be used to correlate with clinical outcomes of survival and recurrence. Examples of such markers include studying if the integrity of DNA repair pathway in pancreatic cancers, analyzed by Rad51 and phosphorylated DNA-PK foci formation, correlates with tumor response to radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and overall survival.
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center - Cool Springs
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center at Franklin
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Determination if a method of extracting and identifying biomarkers from tissues of the quantity obtained from typical biopsy can be applied in the setting of pancreatic cancer
Time frame: 1 year following final patient data
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