De novo sequencing of circulating miRNAs identifies novel markers predicting clinical outcome of locally advanced breast cancer.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been recently detected in the circulation of cancer patients, where they are associated with clinical parameters. Discovery profiling of circulating small RNAs has not been reported in breast cancer (BC), and was carried out in this study to identify blood-based small RNA markers of BC clinical outcome.

Methods: The pre-treatment sera of 42 stage II-III locally advanced and inflammatory BC patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) followed by surgical tumor resection were analyzed for marker identification by deep sequencing all circulating small RNAs.

Racial and ethnic disparities in outcomes with radiation therapy for rectal adenocarcinoma.

Background: Race/ethnicity may modify cancer outcomes and manifest as survival disparities for patients with rectal cancer. Our objective was to determine whether disparate rectal cancer outcomes result from variable efficacy of radiation therapy for major racial/ethnic groups.

Methods: The Los Angeles County Cancer Surveillance Program (CSP) identified patients with rectal adenocarcinoma between the years 1988 and 2006.

The contextual model of HRQoL: a paradigm for expanding the HRQoL framework.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in most US populations. Unfortunately, ethnic minority status is associated with increased later stage at diagnosis, greater incidence for many cancer sites, differential treatments, greater mortality and morbidity. The government and public health focus on health disparities, evident in several documents including Healthy People 2010, Unequal Treatment and the Nation's Investment in Cancer Research, are spurring interest in research with ethnic minority populations.

Can a culturally responsive model for research design bring us closer to addressing participation disparities? Lessons learned from cancer survivorship studies.

Introduction: Health disparities research demands the inclusion of traditionally excluded peoples. Additional complex issues weigh into health disparities or multicultural research including sociopolitical context, cultural context, network or community context, and micro-level or personal dimensions.

Conceptual Framework: This paper will present a work in progress based on psycho-oncology research: A Culturally Responsive Model for Research Design.

Understanding the breast cancer experience of women: a qualitative study of African American, Asian American, Latina and Caucasian cancer survivors.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in American women across most ethnic groups. Although the psychosocial impact of breast cancer is being studied, there is little information on women from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. We conducted a qualitative study with breast cancer survivors (BCS) of various ethnicities.