General Overview

The Hereditary Cancer Institute at Creighton University is one of nine Clinical and Epidemiological Centers within the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN). This Clinical and Epidemiological Center is responsible for developing and maintaining a registry of individuals at high risk for hereditary cancer. This High Risk Registry is recruiting people with known genetic mutations for hereditary cancer. This unique group of people is a valuable population for studies of biomarkers of early cancer detection. Early cancer detection research aims to identify sensitive and specific biomarkers of pre-malignancy and early-stage malignancy, phases of tumor development which are often asymptomatic. Based on their high rates of tumor development, it is believed that these mutation carriers have the highest prevalence of pre-malignant and early stage malignant tumors of any asymptomatic group. Although promising biomarkers may be initially evaluated in symptomatic individuals, further studies in asymptomatic populations will be needed to evaluate their usefulness as early detection markers.  Registry members are eligible to participate in a number of early cancer detection studies that are being conducted simultaneously by researchers throughout the network.

top