NRG-BN011 is a clinical study for people with a type of brain tumor called a glioblastoma that have not yet received treatment other than surgery for their disease. Participants in this trial will need to be tested to see if their tumor has a biomarker called “methylated” MGMT. A biomarker gives information about how the tumor may respond to treatment. The MGMT methylation test helps predict if the tumor will respond to temozolomide, the standard chemotherapy drug used for glioblastomas. MGMT methylated tumors are more likely to respond to temozolomide chemotherapy.

NRG-BN011 will test to see if the addition of a second chemotherapy drug called lomustine to the usual treatment of radiation and temozolomide chemotherapy can help extend your life or stabilize your cancer. Lomustine is currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)- to treat brain tumors, however, it is usually used for recurrent tumors. Researchers are doing this study to find out if this approach is better, the same, or worse than the usual approach for your brain tumor.

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NRG-GU008, also known as the “INNOVATE” study, is a clinical study for patients who have node-positive prostate cancer and need more treatment after prostatectomy. This trial compares the usual treatment of hormone therapy and radiation therapy, to apalutamide added to the usual treatment. The addition of apalutamide to the usual treatment could stabilize your cancer and prevent it from spreading. This study will help doctors learn if this different approach is better, the same, or worse than the usual approach.To decide if it is better, the study doctors will be looking to see if the study approach increases the time without prostate cancer spreading compared to the usual approach.The study drug, apalutamide, is already approved by the FDA for use in advanced prostate cancer; however, most of the time apalutamide is not used until hormone drugs stop working and after prostate cancer has spread..

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The Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute is enrolling patients in its newly established Phase 1 Cancer Clinical Trials Unit. We’ve recently opened a novel clinical trial sponsored by Jounce Therapeutics, titled: “Phase 1 First-in-Human (FIH) Study of Leukocyte Immunoglobulin-Like Receptor B2 (LILRB2) Inhibitor Monoclonal Antibody (mAb) JTX-8064, as Monotherapy and in Combination with a Programmed Cell Death Receptor-1 (PD-1) Inhibitor, in Adult Subjects with Advanced Refractory Solid Tumor Malignancies.”

Led by Michael Birrer, M.D., Ph.D., Cancer Institute director, this study will bring a novel approach of harnessing the body’s immune system to treat cancer patients who have failed multiple lines of chemo and immunotherapies. The Cancer Institute is currently enrolling ovarian, breast, lung, and head and neck cancer patients to benefit future treatment options. Questions? mrkovak@uams.edu.

The UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute is participating in the National Cancer Institute’s TMIST (Tomosynthesis Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial).

The study compares two standard breast cancer screening methods: tomosynthesis (3D) mammograms and digital (2D) mammograms, and is designed to help researchers determine whether one method is better than the other at finding life-threatening breast cancers.

The study involves 100 clinics and includes 165,000 women in the United States and Canada. The UAMS Breast Center has enrolled 290 participants to date and is able to include even more women.

“By participating in this research study, you can help determine the most effective type of mammogram and how often women should receive screening,” said Gwendolyn Bryant-Smith, M.D., chief of breast imaging at UAMS and local principal investigator for the trial.

In a briefing held Oct. 7, NCI leaders stated, “We need women to take part to make sure breast cancer screening of the future is appropriate for all women. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time to share the importance of screening mammograms and early detection.”

The UAMS TMIST study coordinator is available at (501) 400-3195 or TMISTstudy@uams.edu for anyone wanting to learn more about the study.

Women ages 45 to 74 who plan to get a routine screening mammogram at the UAMS Breast Center are eligible for this trial. Participants are randomly assigned to get either a 3D or 2D mammogram every one or two years for the first five years of the study. Researchers will follow each woman’s breast cancer status for a total of eight years by reviewing medical records and possibly conducting phone interviews.

TMIST was developed by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ECOG-ACRIN) Cancer Research Group and the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. ECOG-ACRIN leads the trial.