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CompletedNCT02840578Updated May 11, 2018

NK Cell Activity in Smokers Screened for Lung Cancer

An observational study in Lung Cancer, sponsored by University of Southern California. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 50 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-05-11.

Sponsored by University of Southern California · Observational

Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
242
Ages
50 Years to 80 Years
Sex
All
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Study summary

Objectives: To examine whether NK cell activity associates with two confirmed risk factors: (1) presence of indeterminate lung nodule(s) and (2) smoking exposure after controlling for potential confounders, including age, gender, body mass index (BMI), personal history of any cancer, and family history of cancer. This project is aimed at measuring NK cell activity, which may eventually help in reducing false positive rates of LDCT screening, improve early detection of lung cancer, and assist in risk assessment in patients with lung cancer. The investigators hypothesize that measurement of NK cell activity may be a useful tool for assessing changes in immunosurveillance in patients with conditions or diseases where NK cell activity has been shown to be reduced, such as lung cancer

Read the detailed description

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in the United States. Despite considerable clinical research in multi-modality cancer treatment, there has been no significant decrease in lung cancer-specific mortality over the past three decades. The recent results of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) established that screening high-risk individuals using low-dose CT (LDCT) significantly reduces lung cancer-related mortality. One caveat is that approximately 96% of the "positive" results in the NLST were found not to be related to lung cancer. The difficulty in determining which subjects with suspicious lesions should be biopsied or operated on could be alleviated by the development of highly specific lung cancer biomarkers that could complement LDCT. Thus, novel, complementary, non-invasive diagnostic tools with high sensitivity and specificity would clearly be of enormous benefit to patients with a "positive" screening exam. This study will look at measuring the activity of natural killer (NK) cells using the in vitro diagnostic device NK Vue™ in a cohort of current and former smokers (n=100) who meet the criteria for LDCT screening established by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) as a result of the positive findings from the NLST. This project is aimed at measuring the NK cell activity, which may eventually help in reducing false positive rates of LDCT screening, improve early detection of lung cancer, and assist in risk assessment in patients with lung cancer. The Investigators hypothesize that measurement of NK cell activity may be a useful tool for assessing changes in immunosurveillance in patients with conditions or diseases where NK cell activity has been shown to be reduced, such as lung cancer.

Objectives Specific Aim 1: To examine whether NK cell activity associates with two confirmed risk factors: (1) presence of indeterminate lung nodule(s) and (2) smoking exposure after controlling for potential confounders, including age, gender, body mass index (BMI), personal history of any cancer, and family history of cancer.

Specific Aim 2 (Exploratory): In the study cohort, investigators expect approximately 45% of patients having at least one indeterminate lung nodule. Among those with lung nodule(s), investigators will examine whether NK cell activity associates with size of the largest lung nodule after controlling for potential confounders, including smoking exposure, age, gender, BMI, personal history of any cancer, and family history of cancer

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Conditions studied

  • Lung Cancer

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In context

Lung Neoplasms

7,243 studies on the registry are indexed under Lung Neoplasms; 1,557 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 242 is above the median of 189 across 1,514 observational studies indexed under Lung Neoplasms.

Browse Lung Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

University of Southern California is the lead sponsor of 773 studies on the registry; 135 are open to participants now.

Of its 68 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 32 (47%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
50 Years to 80 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No
Sampling method
Probability sample

Study population

Subjects must be ages 50 to 80 years and 364 days, and are males or females not of childbearing potential.

Inclusion criteria

  • At the time of registration, subjects must have a current or previous cumulative cigarette smoking history of ≥ 20 pack years (packs per day multiplied by the number of years smoked). If smoking history is between 20 and 29 pack years, subjects must have an additional risk factor (i.e. radon exposure, occupational exposure, personal history of smoking-associated cancer, family history of lung cancer in first-degree relatives, COPD or pulmonary fibrosis).
  • At the time of registration former smokers without additional risk factor(s) must have quit smoking within the preceding 15 years.
  • Subjects must be willing to provide blood samples as biospecimens for the study.
  • At the time of registration, subjects must have recovered from the toxic effects of prior therapy: ≥6 months (182 days) from the last dose of prior cytotoxic therapy.
  • At the time of registration, subjects must have recovered from the effects of prior pneumonia or acute respiratory infection treated by antibiotics by a physician: ≥12 weeks (84 days) from the first dose of antibiotics.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Medical or psychiatric condition precluding informed medical consent.
  • Prior history of lung cancer.
  • Treatment for or advisement by a physician of evidence of any cancer within the past five years, with the exceptions of non-melanoma skin cancer and most in-situ carcinomas. (Treatment for, or evidence of, melanoma or in-situ bladder/transition cell carcinomas within the preceding five years renders the potential participant ineligible.)
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Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
242 participants (actual)
Patient registry
No
Biospecimen retention
Samples without dna
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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. The association between NK cell activity and presence of lung nodule and smoking exposure (pack-years),

    Multivariate generalized linear model will be used to examine the association controlling for potential confounders including age, gender, BMI, personal history of any cancer, and family history of cancer.

    Time frame: 1 year

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Study locations

1 site
  • USC Department of Radiology
    Los Angeles, California 90033, United States
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References and documents

Publications

  • National Lung Screening Trial Research Team; Aberle DR, Adams AM, Berg CD, Black WC, Clapp JD, Fagerstrom RM, Gareen IF, Gatsonis C, Marcus PM, Sicks JD. Reduced lung-cancer mortality with low-dose computed tomographic screening. N Engl J Med. 2011 Aug 4;365(5):395-409. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1102873. Epub 2011 Jun 29. PubMed 21714641 ↗
  • Lee SB, Cha J, Kim IK, Yoon JC, Lee HJ, Park SW, Cho S, Youn DY, Lee H, Lee CH, Lee JM, Lee KY, Kim J. A high-throughput assay of NK cell activity in whole blood and its clinical application. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2014 Mar 14;445(3):584-90. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2014.02.040. Epub 2014 Feb 18. PubMed 24561245 ↗
  • Koo KC, Shim DH, Yang CM, Lee SB, Kim SM, Shin TY, Kim KH, Yoon HG, Rha KH, Lee JM, Hong SJ. Reduction of the CD16(-)CD56bright NK cell subset precedes NK cell dysfunction in prostate cancer. PLoS One. 2013 Nov 4;8(11):e78049. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0078049. eCollection 2013. PubMed 24223759 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 11, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02840578
Lead sponsor
University of Southern California
Collaborators
ATGen Global
Responsible party
Christopher Lee (Associate Professor, University of Southern California) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jul 21, 2016
Start date
Dec 16, 2016
Primary completion
Mar 5, 2018
Completion
Mar 5, 2018
Last update
May 11, 2018

Study contacts

Christopher Lee, MD
principal investigator · University of Southern California

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in May 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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