How Our Immune System Can Help Fight Cancer

December 30, 2016 updated by: Jeannine Villella DO, Winthrop University Hospital

The Effect of Genetic Polymorphisms in Indoleamine 2, 3-Dioxygenase in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

There is growing evidence that our immune system can help fight cancer. This has stimulated interest in the development and application of tumor vaccines for several human solid tumors, including epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). A major obstacle to the development of these vaccines is that there are specialty cells called regulatory T cells that prevent the immune system from attacking all of our organs. These regulatory T cells also prevent our immune system for attacking cancer cells.

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme that degrades an essential amino acid tryptophan that is necessary for T cells to multiply, however regulatory T cells are less susceptible to low levels of tryptophan, and can still multiply. This allows cancer growth and progression. This may be explained by genetic polymorphisms (changes) in the IDO gene, which may alter its function. Five of these changes in the IDO gene have been described. In this research project, we are asking if you would donate a small piece of your tumor and ascites to see if we can examine your IDO gene in the tumor cells and see if any of these gene changes are present. We hope that this will help us understand how the immune system works in EOC.

We hypothesize that genetic polymorphisms within the IDO gene alter its enzymatic activity and affect the outcome of ovarian cancer patients. These findings have the potential to translate into a method for predicting successful immunotherapy.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

169

Contacts and Locations

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

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • Mineola, New York, United States, 11501
        • Winthrop-University Hospital

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

Ages Eligible for Study

20 years to 90 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients with histologically confirmed epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) who have had surgical resection for their disease will be included in this study.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • females aged 20-90 who are having surgery to confirm epithelial ovarian cancer.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • patients who have a diagnosis of non-epithelial histology.

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

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
To examine the association of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) genetic polymorphisms with clinical outcomes of ovarian cancer.
Time Frame: one year
one year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
To correlate IDO activity with gene polymorphisms by measuring tryptophan/kynurenine ratios in the ascites of epithelial ovarian cancer patients.
Time Frame: one year
one year

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Winthrop University Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jeannine A Villella, D.O., Winthrop University Hospital

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

January 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

February 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 4, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 5, 2010

First Posted (Estimate)

January 6, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 2, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 30, 2016

Last Verified

December 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 09316

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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