Manrow: Welcome to this edition
of Inside NCI,
I'm Dr. Rick Manrow
with NCI's Office
of Communications and Education
and joining us today is Dr.
Lauren Wood.
Dr. Wood is a senior clinical
investigator in NCI's Center
for Cancer Research, or CCR,
and she's head
of the clinical trials team
in CCR's vaccine branch.
Thank you for joining us today,
Dr. Wood.
Wood: Thank you for having me.
Manrow: You're research interest
is primarily focused
on developing immune-based
therapies for cancer
and for HIV-infected persons.
Please tell us
about the work you do.
Wood: Well, there are a lot
of similarities between cancer
and HIV infection.
Both diseases have a problem
with hidden areas of disease,
that can't be seen.
Um, that drugs don't totally get
rid of, and that's the goal
behind what we do
in the vaccine branch, is to try
and harness the immune system
and develop either vaccines
or immune-based therapies
that will kind of go
where no drugs can go
and get rid
of those residual areas
of either virus infection
or areas of cancer metastases
that we can't see.
Manrow: Have there been recent
advances in immune based
therapies and cancer vaccines
that you'd like to tell
us about?
Wood: Absolutely.
2010 was a watershed year
for those of us
who do cancer vaccine research
because it involved the approval
of the first therapeutic cancer
vaccine for prostate cancer,
called Provenge.
Therapeutic cancer vaccines
differ from the traditional
vaccines that most people think
about because those vaccines are
prophylactic,
which means they prevent
whatever you're being
immunized against.
They prevent tetanus,
diphtheria, polio,
that kind of thing.
Therapeutic vaccines are
targeted to individuals
who already have a disease
but the hope is
to help their immune systems
better control that disease.
Manrow: With your research,
obviously clinical trials must
be an important part.
One of the things
that we're constantly being told
about clinical trials,
not only cancer clinical trials,
but others as well,
is there's a real challenge
to recruiting participants
for these trials.
Can you tell us what some
of the barriers for enrollment
in clinical trials in general,
but also among
minority populations?
Wood: I think the first barrier
is lack of knowledge and lack
of awareness.
There's been some historical
distrust of clinical trials.
The second barrier is there are
specific eligibility criteria.
And those eligibility criteria
are based on the nature
of the disease,
the nature of the agent
that we're studying.
For underrepresented minorities,
and also women,
who often times are
underrepresented
in clinical trials,
some of the issues are that ,
the disease, as it relates
to women, has not maybe been
well studied.
But there really has been an
effort to ensure
that women have access
to clinical trials
if that disease also
affects women.
And the same focus has happened
with
underrepresented minorities.
It's important
that we have appropriate
representation
that represents the diversity
of our nation.
Manrow: Are past abuses
and cultural differences
significant barriers
to minority participation
in clinical trials?
Wood: I think
that they definitely can be.
And I think
at a population level,
to some extent, that is true.
Cultural barriers can include
just language barriers.
But there are also other
cultural barriers in terms
of how healthcare providers are
regarded, how health
and disease is viewed culturally
within a community.
One of the things
that we do find is
that when people get informed
about what the actual research
options are,
that many of them are very,
very interested in participating
in clinical trials.
And so the other and final area
that I think leads
to underrepresentation is
that a lot of minority patients
are not necessarily offered
clinical trial options
by their healthcare providers,
and I think that's something
else that we need to work on.
Manrow: What is the significance
of National Minority Cancer
Awareness week,
in terms of addressing cancer
health disparities among
minority populations?
Wood: It's a very important week
to highlight the fact
that we know
that minority populations,
certain minority populations can
be disproportionately affected
by different types of cancer.
For example,
we know that the incidence
of breast cancer is
significantly higher
in African American women,
and when they get diagnosed
with breast cancer
and treated their response rates
do not appear to be as great
as Caucasian women.
They're more likely to die,
even if they receive the
same treatments.
There can be a real variation
in the incidence
of certain cancers
in different populations.
And one of the goals
of Minority Cancer Awareness
Week is to highlight those
cancers which disproportionately
affect minorities,
so that minorities can be
encouraged to access health care
screening, and specifically
cancer screening.
Manrow: Well can you think
of anything specific
that can be done increase
awareness of clinical trials
and the importance
of clinical trial participation?
Wood: I think it's very
important to have the local care
providers engaged.
And I think developing those
kinds of dialogues
and partnerships are a way
to enhance enrollment.
Manrow: Well I really want
to thank you
for joining us today,
this has been a real pleasure
and extremely informative.
Wood: Thank you very much
for having me,
it's great to be here.
Manrow: For more information
about research
and training opportunities
at NCI, please visit our Web
site at www.cancer.gov.
For Inside NCI,
this is Dr. Rick Manrow.