Salivary Gland Carcinomas Consortium

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Research Studies

7101: Tissue Bank Consortium for Salivary Gland Tumors

Study Summary

This is not a clinical trial. This is a descriptive and molecular epidemiologic study of salivary gland carcinomas treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center with the goals of identifying environmental and genetic risk factors for salivary gland carcinoma.

Background

Gamma irradiation exposure is the only clear risk factor for the common Non-Squamous Carcinomas of the Head and Neck such as Salivary Gland Cancer (SGC). However, few of these patients report a history of radiation exposure, which suggests that subgroups of the general population are genetically vulnerable to this cancer. We think that differences in the ability to respond to gamma irradiation induced genetic damage play a role in the etiology of NSCHN.

SGCs are extremely rare making epidemiologic study very difficult. While several risk factors have been proposed, exposure to a certain type of radiation, ionizing radiation (IR), is the only well-established risk factor. Salivary gland exposure to IR most commonly occurs with medical diagnostics/treatments for head and neck conditions and occupational exposures, but population-level exposures from terrorist attacks and other nuclear disasters are also possible. IR causes direct damage to DNA (strand breaks), induces cancerous tumors in animal models, and is an established SGC risk factor in humans.

About this Study

This is an epidemiologic study of 1050 individuals (600 cancer free control subjects, 300 salivary gland cancer patients and 150 benign salivary tumor patients). The study is designed to explore associations between demographic, exposure, and genetic characteristics with salivary gland cancer.

During your visit, you will be asked to:

Targeted Enrollment

To be eligible to participate, you must:

  • Be an individual with newly diagnosed, previously untreated salivary gland or other head and neck mass,  Salivary Gland Carcinoma (SGC), a Benign Salivary Tumor (BST)
  • Be a United States resident older than 17 years of age
  • Complete the informed consent, agree to a blood draw and complete a questionnaire
  • Will undergo surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center

You are not eligible to participate if:

  • Prior history of cancer (except nonmelanoma skin cancer)
  • Currently taking steroids or other immunosuppressive agents or having a major immune compromised condition
  • Blood transfusion in the previous 6 months

How to participate

This is not a clinical trial. Patients seen at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center with a newly diagnosed salivary gland cancer or a mass suspicious for a salivary gland carcinoma will be approached for participation. To be seen as a new patient at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, patients may contact the Head and Neck Center New Patient Referral Center at (713) 792-6161 for new patient screening. Patients are not eligible to be screened for possible participation unless approved to be seen as a new patient in the Head and Neck Center at M.D. Anderson. If so approved, they will be approached to participate when seen as a new patient in the Head and Neck Center.

More studies may be opening soon! Please visit us again or Join the Contact Registry to receive study updates!

The Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network will make every effort to enroll all the patients we can, but we cannot make any guarantees that we will be able to enroll everyone in a particular study who wants to participate.