Clinical Trials

The purpose of this study is to translate existing educational materials for a community-based education intervention to improve knowledge on cervical cancer among African and Hispanic women belonging to immigrant communities in local Rochester communities

The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of genetic mutations in cancer patients from various ethnic populations seeking care at Mayo Clinic cancer clinics.

This clinical trial evaluates whether offering human papillomavirus (HPV) self-collection for cervical cancer screening at Mayo Clinic Express Care clinics improves uptake of cervical cancer screening and receipt of appropriate follow-up care. Cervical cancer is preventable through vaccination, screening, and treatment of pre-cancerous conditions. Despite this, the rates of outdated cervical cancer screening tests are high. Usual care at Mayo Clinic currently includes annual portal or letter communications in the form of scheduled outreach to request scheduling an appointment for cervical cancer screening, as well as reminders from clinicians during clinic appointments. Cervical cancer screening at Mayo Clinic is most often done with a pelvic speculum exam with cervical swabs collected in the office by a clinician. HPV self-collection is Food and Drug Administration-approved and already used in clinical practice, but offering this method of screening in the novel setting of Express Care clinics that have expanded nighttime and weekend hours may improve rates of cervical cancer screening and receipt of appropriate follow-up care.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usability and efficacy of Flyte, a home-based transvaginal mechanotherapy device, in the treatment of urinary incontinence in women who have received adjuvant radiation therapy, and to measure the associated improvement in overall quality of life. A secondary objective includes the feasibility of using the Flyte System to improve access to urinary incontinence treatment for patients in rural areas or those who experience difficulties traveling for in-person care.

This phase III trial compares the addition of induction chemotherapy, with carboplatin, paclitaxel and pembrolizumab, to chemotherapy and radiation, with cisplatin and pembrolizumab followed by pembrolizumab maintenance for the treatment of patients with cervical cancer that has spread to nearby tissue or lymph nodes (locally advanced). Carboplatin is in a class of medications known as platinum-containing compounds. It works in a way similar to the anticancer drug cisplatin, but may be better tolerated than cisplatin. Carboplatin works by killing, stopping or slowing the growth of cancer cells. Paclitaxel is in a class of medications called antimicrotubule agents. It stops cancer cells from growing and dividing and may kill them. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Radiation therapy uses high energy x-rays, particles, or radioactive seeds to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Cisplatin is in a class of medications known as platinum-containing compounds. It works by killing, stopping or slowing the growth of cancer cells. Adding induction chemotherapy to the usual treatment of chemotherapy and radiation followed by maintenance may be more effective in treating patients with high risk, locally advanced cervical cancer.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a survey of Somali and Hispanic women to ascertain personal, cultural, and structural barriers to CCS and assess the acceptability, and appropriateness of community engaged and community-based strategies to increase screening.

The purpose of this study is to develop a pan-gynecologic cancer detection test using gynecologic (unique endometrial, cervical, and ovarian cancer) cancer-specific methylated DNA markers and high-risk human papilloma virus (HR-HPV) detected in vaginal fluid and/or plasma.

The purpose of this study is to reduce disparities in cervical cancer screening and mortality among women vulnerable to health disparities based on social determinants of health. We are specifically interested in identifying non-traditional sites for cervical cancer screening and education regarding HPV vaccination outside of the primary care and gynecologic clinic settings.   

The purpose of this study is to sequence patient germline and tumor samples, and nominate top neoantigen candidates using an in-house developed bioinformatics pipeline, and to validate the neoantigen candidates by laboratory assays using patient peripheral blood immune cells or serum.

Effective treatments for recurrent gynecological cancer are lacking, and there is a need for novel therapeutic options. One of the barriers to improving outcomes in this subgroup of patients is the paucity of tumor models that can mimic patient characteristics to study novel therapies. Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models are considerate the most representative pre-clinical model of human cancer, recapitulating the key characteristics of the original patient tumor. Other preclincal models to test drug effcicacy includes ex vivo 3D culture and 2D culture systems. In this study, we make and test preclinical models of gynecological cancers (ovarian, fallopian tube, peritoneal, uterine, vulvar, cervix, and vaginal) of any histologic subtype using surplus tumor specimens obtained at the time of routine tumor biopsy procedure, or clinically-indicated surgery.