Photo courtesy of Inova
Inova Alexandria Hospital
Inova is now recruiting participants for the Vanguard Study,a national study of an innovative blood test that screens for several types of cancer, the hospital system announced Monday. Researchers will evaluate whether these Multi-Cancer Detection (MCD) tests will help identify cancers earlier in people ages 45 to 75. This is the first study of the Cancer Screening Research Network (CSRN), a new national network of primary care sites devoted to cancer screening research.
Inova is part of the Virginia ACCESS (Accrual, Enrollment and Screening Site) Hub – a collaborative partnership between Inova Schar Cancer, VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Sentara Health – and will serve as one of the eight national sites for CSRN. This initiative is funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health.
“At Inova, we are proud to contribute to this important national study as part of our commitment to advancing cancer detection and improving outcomes for our community,” said Dr. Rebecca Kaltman, Executive Director of the Saville Cancer Screening and Prevention Center and Principal Investigator at Inova. “If these multi-cancer detection tests prove effective in identifying cancers before symptoms appear, it could be a major step forward in our efforts to reduce cancer deaths, especially for those cancers that currently lack effective or accessible screening options.”
Multi-cancer detection tests identify biological substances released in the bloodstream by cancer cells. The MCD tests in the Vanguard Study will screen for the following cancers:
- Bladder
- Breast
- Colorectal
- Esophageal
- Stomach
- Liver
- Lung
- Ovarian
- Pancreatic
- Prostate
The Vanguard Study will recruit adults ages 45 to 75 with no cancer diagnosis in the past five years. The study will evaluate two tests: Avantect® MCD Test by ClearNote Health, and the ShieldTM MCD Test by Guardant Health.
By joining this study, participants will help shape the future of cancer screening. Study participants will give two blood samples and complete regular cancer screening as recommended by clinicians. Participants will be randomized to one of three arms: two MCD arms where their blood will be tested by an MCD test or a control arm where the blood will be stored for potential future research.
“We need to rigorously evaluate multi-cancer detection tests to understand if they’re effective and accurate cancer screening tools for everyone, and learn how participants navigate receiving their test results,” said Scott Ramsey, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator of the CSRN and cancer researcher at Fred Hutch Cancer Center.
The Vanguard Study is an important preliminary step in the larger plan to evaluate how well MCD tests work for reducing cancer mortality. It will provide information on how MCD tests work as cancer screening tools and explore the decisions that patients and their doctors make based on their results.
The Vanguard Study is the latest national cancer research initiative Inova Schar Cancer is participating in, joining other efforts such as the ARPA-H-funded ADAPT program with MD Anderson – underscoring Inova’s commitment to shaping the future of cancer care through research and innovation.
To learn more or to enroll in the study at Inova, please call 571-472-3517, email Saville_Research@inova.org or visit this website.
