The Immune System's Response to Young Women's Breast Cancer

January 27, 2026 updated by: University of Colorado, Denver

A Translational Study of the Interactions Between Prior Pregnancy and the Biologic Subtype of Breast Cancer in Defining the Cancer: Host Immunologic Interaction

This study plans to learn more about the immune system's response to breast cancer in young women.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Detailed Description

The investigators will be looking at the level of immune suppression in different types of breast cancer. The investigators will use blood, urine, and tissue samples from patients with Pregnancy Associated Breast Cancer (PABC) versus non-PABC, as well as comparing different types of breast cancer. If tissue sampling permits, the investigators may use some of the breast cancer tissue to develop models for human cancer for drug targeting. Understanding the immune response and suppression in different types of cancer will help us understand mechanisms involved in breast cancer better and help the investigators in developing new treatment in the future.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
800

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Colorado
      • Aurora, Colorado, United States, 80045
        • Recruiting
        • University of Colorado Denver
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Virginia Borges, MD, MMSc
      • Denver, Colorado, United States, 80204
      • Denver, Colorado, United States, 80206
      • Highlands Ranch, Colorado, United States, 80129
      • Lone Tree, Colorado, United States, 80124

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Women over the age of 18 who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Women over age 46 will serve as controls. Need not be in active treatment.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Females >18.
  2. Histological or cytological confirmation of breast cancer.
  3. For patients diagnosed with needle core or excisional biopsy, formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tumor blocks or unstained slides should be available or planned to be available after upcoming procedure.
  4. Patient should be willing to have fresh and/or fresh frozen tissue collected at time of core biopsy, definitive breast cancer surgery or clinically planned breast cancer metastasis biopsy/resection for research purposes as part of study procedures, if a procedure is in the future planning of the patient's treatment.
  5. Any clinical stage allowed.
  6. Written informed consent obtained prior to any initiation of study procedures in the case of subjects consented in clinic. Subjects consented outside of UCH, VVMC or SCC will be consented by phone and verbal informed consent will be obtained prior to any initiation of study procedures.
  7. Women treated at UCH, VVMC or SCC may be pregnant. Other participants are excluded for safety reasons.
  8. Women who have commenced or completed their breast cancer treatment may join this study by consenting to a retrospective tissue donation only consent of the protocol.
  9. Women who receive their care at a facility other than UCH, VVMC or SCC may join this study. These women will be consented utilizing the phone consent and will receive a copy of the consent in the mail, or they will consent online and print a copy of their online consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Known significant autoimmune condition [ie Lupus, Crohne's disease or Rhuematoid Arthritis], chronic oral steroid use, use of systemic immunomodulatory prescription drugs for any medical condition.
  2. The presence of other comorbid conditions known to significantly impact immune function, (such as: type I diabetes, uncontrolled adult onset diabetes, severe COPD, uncontrolled infection or known HIV infection.)
  3. Underlying psychiatric condition which would, in the opinion of the investigator, preclude compliance with study requirements
  4. Subjects with a history of other malignancy besides current diagnosis of breast cancer who were diagnosed and treated within the last 5 years are excluded, with exception of cervical cancer definitively treated more than 2 years ago or non-melanomatous skin cancer.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Progression Free Survival
Time Frame: Throughout study participation
Prospective cohort study.
Throughout study participation

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Colorado, Denver

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Virginia Borges, MD, MMSc, University of Colorado, Denver

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
July 21, 2009

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
December 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
July 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
December 29, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
December 30, 2011

First Posted (Estimated)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
January 2, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
January 29, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 27, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 09-0583.cc

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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