Clinical trials

This phase II trial tests compares the effect of progestins, megestrol acetate to micronized progesterone, in treating patients with endometrial cancer and precancers of the uterus (atypical endometrial hyperplasia) before surgery. Progestins, similar to the natural hormone progesterone, are approved drugs used in birth control and hormone replacement pills, and some can treat uterine endometrial cancers. In the initial comparison of this rotating umbrella trial, megestrol acetate, a progestin, will be compared to micronized progesterone, a form of natural progesterone that is a hormone produced by body normally. Hormone therapy using megestrol acetate and micronized progesterone may be effective in treating patients with endometrial cancer or atypical endometrial hyperplasia before surgery, and understanding the tissue effects of each agent on the malignant endometrium will uncover novel mechanistic and biomarker data to understand how best to advanced hormone therapy for endometrial cancer.

This clinical trial studies engagement strategies for recruiting American Indians (AI) of Southwestern Tribal Nations for cancer genome sequencing. American Indians in the Southwest have higher rates of some types of cancer, such as cancers that arise in the liver, kidney, breast, and colon. American Indians with cancer may also live for less time than people from other population groups who have been treated for the same cancer. Damage to the cells of the body, acquired as people live, grow older, and are exposed to the environment, causes genetic changes in cells that can lead to cancer. This study may help researchers learn how these genetic changes in cells cause cancer and understand how and why cancer is arising in American Indians in the Southwest. This may help better prevent and treat cancer in the future.

The overall objective of this study is to ultimately develop an improved standard of cancer care by facilitating new cancer research, clinical trials, new technology, new informatics solutions, and "personalized medicine" for the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center (UNMCCC) and the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN) Consortium of academic medical centers, community hospital systems, and other health care providers. To bring new translational research to the community, the ORIEN consortium has initiated the ORIEN Total Cancer Care Program (TCCP). The TCCP establishes a unique collection of blood, tissue, other biological samples and their associated data (survey data, medical records data, cancer registry data, and other related data) from thousands of patients with cancer or at risk of having cancer. This is not a treatment trial. It is a study designed to create a centralized data and tissue repository.

Ascites samples from women undergoing surgery for ovarian cancer will be collected for use in translational research.