NK Cell Activity in Smokers Screened for Lung Cancer

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

Sex

All

Minimum age

50 Years

Maximum age

80 Years

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:

* 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.)

• BACKGROUNDNational 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. PMID 21714641
• BACKGROUNDLee 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. PMID 24561245
• BACKGROUNDKoo 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. PMID 24223759