On February 21, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced the launch of a clinical trials network to evaluate emerging technologies for cancer screening, such as liquid biopsies.
Dubbed the Cancer Screening Research Network (CSRN), the program will support the Biden-Harris administration’s Cancer Moonshot℠ by, “investigating how to identify cancers earlier, when they may be easier to treat.”
About the Program
The CSRN aims to study both the benefits and possible adverse effects of new technologies and approaches to cancer screening in order to determine how the technologies can be incorporated into the standard of care.
“Our goal is to systematically evaluate cancer screening technologies to understand how best to use them to ultimately save lives, said Lori M. Minasian, M.D., deputy director of the Division of Cancer Prevention at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of NIH, in a press release. “Data collected through these clinical trials can be used to develop evidence-based guidelines for cancer screening.”
This year, the program will launch a large pilot study, enrolling up to 24,000 people, to evaluate the feasibility of using liquid biopsy in future randomized controlled trials.
Liquid biopsy – also referred to as multi-cancer detection (MCD) or MCD assays – is a test that screens for various types of cancers using only a blood or fluid sample, as opposed to the more invasive traditional solid tissue biopsy.
Known as the Vanguard Study on Multi-Cancer Detection, NIH states that the pilot study will inform the design of a much larger randomized controlled trial examining whether the benefits of liquid biopsy tests outweigh any negative effects in screening for cancer, as well as whether the tests can effectively reduce mortality rates through early detection.
Cancer Moonshot℠
Created in 2016 by then-Vice President Biden during the Obama administration, the Cancer Moonshot initiative is focused on reducing the death rate from cancer by accelerating treatment discovery and innovation.
President Biden “reignited” the initiative in 2022 on the heels of major developments in cancer therapeutics, diagnostics, and other innovations in cancer. The President has established a goal for the reignited program of reducing the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years.
Study Sites
According to NIH, serving diverse populations is one of the primary objectives of the network. As a result, the study sites are geographically diverse and specifically selected to include underserved populations.
“We want to ensure that the organizations involved in this network will also be recruiting from populations historically underrepresented in clinical trials, which will make the data we generate as representative as possible,” Dr. Minasian said. “It is important to make sure that these new technologies benefit all Americans.”
In total, eight sites have received funding from NCI for the initial phase of the network. These sites include:
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, serving as the network’s coordinating and communications center and the statistics and data management center
- Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences in Detroit
- Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, and Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine
- OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences in Oklahoma City
- University of Colorado Cancer Center in Aurora
- University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chapel Hill
- Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Inova, and Sentara Health
- Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
In addition, the network will serve military patients and veterans through Department of Defense Uniformed Services University and the Department of Veterans Affairs, both of which will provide funding to participate as sites.
