If you are an African American man and have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, you can help us better understand the significant differences that African American men have in risk factors for prostate cancer. The RESPOND study, with a goal of recruiting 10,000 African American men, seeks to understand what are the actual risk factor differences and what are the significant results of these differences between African American men and Caucasian men.
We know that African American men are at higher risk for receiving a diagnosis with prostate cancer — and at a younger age — than comparable Caucasians and Hispanics. We need to understand why this is the case.
The RESPOND study, which was initiated in July last year, seeks to understand this critical issue better. The study involves researchers from 11 different centers around the US.
If you are African American and have been diagnosed with prostate cancer within the past eight (8) years, you should contact the research team, to learn more about this study, and to participate.
What You Would Need To Do If You Participate
• Complete a survey
• Provide a saliva sample for genetic/genomic testing and
• Allow the research team to access tumor tissues that have already been obtained (e.g., at biopsy) and are stored at the participants’ diagnosing or treating facilities or pathology laboratories.
The data and other information obtained will then be used by the research team to study how multiple factors may contribute to the development of prostate cancer, including such factors as:
• Inherited susceptibility (i.e., the individual patient’s genetics)
• Personal tumor characteristics
• Exposure to stress over one’s lifetime
What Else You Should Know
• There is no cost associated with participation in this trial.
• Participation is open to African American (or other Black) men who were first diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United States on or after January 1, 2010.
• It doesn’t matter how you have been treated for your prostate cancer (or whether you have received any treatment at all to date).
• Some participants may be able to receive up to $50 for their time and effort if they participate fully in all parts of the study.
• All data and information provided by participants in this study will be kept confidential and will be used exclusively for research purposes.
• Results from this research project may be published in scientific journals; however, the identities of individual participants will not be released.
• Researchers involved with the RESPOND study have years of experience in protecting patient confidentiality in cancer research.
• The research team is planning to keep all participants informed about the results of the study over time — through newsletters as well as via the respondstudy.org web site.
If you are an African American man and have been diagnosed, we ask that you learn more about the study and then participate.
