World's Largest Study of Breast Cancer in Latina Women Relies on caBIG®
The largest study ever conducted on breast cancer in Latin American women will use the caBIG® information sharing network, caGrid, to enable collaborative research among six countries in a unique public-private partnership.
Beginning this year, The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Office of Latin American Cancer Program Development and Susan G. Komen for the Cure® will partner with researchers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay to develop research, clinical trials, training, technology and capacity building programs. The multi-year study will rely on caBIG® technology to exchange information among researchers within six countries. In addition, the use of specific caBIG® software applications from the Clinical Trials Management Suite (CTMS), is also being examined.
"caGrid is designed to enable exactly the kind of information exchange across geographies that we will see in this study," said Ken Buetow, Ph.D., Director, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology at the NCI. "Experience shows us that sharing data within and between each country will advance the research much more rapidly than single-site studies."
Equally important for the Latina women breast cancer study, according to Buetow, is access to data from related studies. "All research efforts may benefit significantly from data already collected by other caBIG® participants. There is a universe of cancer research data just waiting to be uncovered."
According to research grant providers, among the first steps in the study is building an information database to identify breast cancer patterns in Latin women. From there, project supporters say strategies for improved breast cancer detection will be created. Disease management and treatment will be enhanced, as will research training. caGrid will be part of a vital technical infrastructure created for future research as well.
