Notes

Take Part in SELECT Biorepository Symposium

As the largest prostate cancer prevention trial ever undertaken, the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial, or SELECT, has assembled a substantial biorepository of specimens. To help make SELECT resources available to a wider research community, NCI and the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) will host a symposium May 4 in Dallas, TX, to develop an RFP for projects using the trial’s biorepository. The symposium will bring together leaders in prostate cancer biology and nutritional science and micronutrients to discuss the current state of the science and outline potential future directions. Investigators interested in participating in the symposium should complete the online application form.

SELECT is an NCI-funded phase III study of the effects of selenium and vitamin E, both separately and together, on the incidence of prostate cancer. The study opened in 2001 and quickly accrued 35,533 men. In the fall of 2008, the trial’s Data Safety and Monitoring Committee recommended that participants discontinue taking the study supplements based on an interim finding of no preventive benefit. The almost 31,000 patients remaining on SELECT are now being transitioned to a centralized follow-up system to track their health.

The trial’s growing biorepository includes toenail clippings, baseline and post-baseline blood samples, linked nutritional data, adherence cohort data, and a vast clinical database from semiannual visits with each participant. The biorepository also holds prostate biopsies and surgical specimens collected from a subset of the more than 2,100 men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer during the course of the trial. DNA has been extracted from the serum of these prostate cancer patients and from an age- and race-matched cohort of control subjects.

Meet NCI Experts at AACR

Learn about NCI’s programs and Web sites by visiting booth #1121 in the exhibit hall during the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting. NCI experts will be available to talk about a wide range of topics. See the schedule below.

Tutorial on Targeted Therapies for Multiple Myeloma Available Online

NCI recently added a new tutorial to its Understanding Cancer Series, a collection of education tutorials for life science teachers, health professionals, and the interested public. Targeted Therapies for Multiple Myeloma is part of the Targeted Therapies Tutorials. In multiple myeloma, abnormal plasma cells accumulate in the bone marrow, which may eventually interfere with the production and function of normal blood cells. The tutorial focuses on the variety of targeted therapies that have been and are being developed to treat multiple myeloma. The tutorial explains the molecules and pathways in multiple myeloma cells that are being targeted, as well as the agents that are being developed to target these molecules and pathways. Individuals will learn which targeted therapies are currently approved by the FDA and how to find clinical trials of targeted therapies for multiple myeloma.

View or download Targeted Therapies for Multiple Myeloma at
/cancertopics/understandingcancer/targetedtherapies or contact Donna Kerrigan at kerrigad@mail.nih.gov or Kimberly Martin at martinkim@mail.nih.gov to request a DVD.