General Protocol for the Acquisition of Whole Blood for the Detection and Characterization of Circulating Tumor Cells and/or Tumor Specific Immunity/Immune Cell Activation for any Malignancy at any Stage of Disease
Objective
[A] To determine the feasibility of the detection and characterization of CTCs from both solid tumor and hematologic malignant processes at various stages of disease using various technologies, extant and to be developed [B] To determine the feasibility of the measurement of markers of specific immune activation against various malignant processes at various stages of diseases [C] To allow the storage of immune cells, CTCs or their components and clinical information in a bank for comparative study analogous to a tumor bank [D] To test the feasibility of the cultivation and/or molecular/proteomic/epigenetic/glycomic/lipomic/metabolomic analysis of CTCs from various malignant processes at various stages of disease using various technologies currently available or in development