UNC Lineberger Seeks 2,000 for Multi-Cancer Blood Test Trial as 600 Already Enroll
Updated
Updated · WRAL News · Aug 10
UNC Lineberger Seeks 2,000 for Multi-Cancer Blood Test Trial as 600 Already Enroll
1 articles · Updated · WRAL News · Aug 10
Summary
UNC Lineberger is recruiting North Carolina adults ages 45 to 75 for the Vanguard Study, which will test whether a routine blood draw can detect signals from multiple cancers before symptoms appear.
The NCI-sponsored trial focuses on cancers with no standard screening tests—such as pancreatic, ovarian and stomach cancer—and will randomly assign participants to two blood-test groups or a control group.
More than 600 people have enrolled toward UNC's 2,000-person target, part of a nine-hub national pilot expected to total roughly 18,000 to 20,000 participants.
Positive signals from the multi-cancer detection assays will be reported to patients and doctors for follow-up testing, while researchers track how often those results lead to actual cancer diagnoses.
UNC says the tests are not FDA-approved and not ready to replace mammograms, colonoscopies, Pap smears or CT scans, but results could shape a later trial of about 200,000 people.