Drs. Johnson and Light awarded NIH HEAL Initiative Discovery of Biomarkers, Biomarker Signatures, and Endpoints for Pain (R61/R33 Clinical Trial Optional) grant for “Genetic And Inflammatory Biomarkers In Neuropathic Symptoms Secondary To Chemotherapy (Genie-B).” This grant is in collaboration with investigators at the Cleveland Clinic and is set to begin enrolling in early 2021. Goals of the study are to identify patients who are at high risk for CIPN from taxanes, improve personalized dose adjustments, minimize adverse symptoms, optimize therapeutic outcomes, and contribute to approaches to treat or slow progress of neuropathic pain. The specific aims are to 1) identify candidate biomarkers in pain and neuroinflammatory pathways that predict neuropathic symptoms in patients receiving taxane treatment, and 2) develop an algorithm to identify patients at risk of experiencing neuropathic symptoms to taxane treatment. The project will enroll 150 patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer that are prescribed treatment with taxanes. More information on the project can be found here.
