This research trial collects and stores blood, tissue, and bone marrow specimens from patients with cancer or blood disorders, and healthy volunteers to study the immune system in a variety of different types of experiments, as well as associated clinical data as appropriate, focused on understanding mechanisms of immunotherapy.
All patients known to have cancer, an immune-mediated hematologic diagnosis, or a healthy normal volunteer
Definition of immune-mediated hematologic diagnosis: diagnoses for which immune dysfunction and/or immune system directed therapy (eg. aplastic anemia, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, immune thrombocytopenic purpura [ITP], etc.) are involved
Definition of healthy normal volunteer: persons lacking diagnoses of any type of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, non-hematologic autoimmune disease (eg. systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE], rheumatoid arthritis [RA], Crohn's disease) and not taking any immunosuppressive medications
Patients must have been seen in the Norris Hospital and outpatient clinics, or the Los Angeles County (LAC)-University of Southern California (USC) Medical Center or outpatient clinics; healthy volunteers can be recruited without any physician visit appointments since their labs are strictly for clinical research and not for personal health issues unrelated to the project
Unable to give informed consent to specimen collection
Known human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive status
Persons taking any type of immunosuppressive medication are excluded from participating as healthy normal volunteers
Any patient for whom specimen collection is judged to be unsafe (for example, for patients unable to establish venous access)
University of Southern California
Lead sponsor
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Collaborator