Featured Studies

Doctors at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) seek patients with thyroid cancer that spread outside the thyroid - to the lymph nodes, lungs or bones. The standard treatment in such situation is therapy with radioactive iodine (RAI). In this study, doctors will assess a new imaging tool - 124I PET/CT, which enables evaluation of how much iodine goes into the tumor. The study goal is to compare how much iodine goes into cancer cells after two different methods of stimulation of RAI uptake.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer in the world. Patients with advanced HCC survive an average of 6 to 9 months. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health are testing the use of an immunotherapy medication called durvalumab, with two other chemotherapy medications, doxorubicin-eluting beads and bevacizumab. This clinical research study will investigate if this combination of medications can stop the progression of HCC.

National Cancer Institute (NCI) researchers are conducting a study of patients with IDH-mutated gliomas. This study will test whether stimulating the immune system using the drug nivolumab can shrink recurrent IDH-mutant gliomas with and without hypermutator phenotype or increase the time it takes for them to grow or spread.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are studying if the medication danazol can be used to treat people with short telomere disease who also have bone marrow failure, liver, or lung disease. In recent studies, danazol, at high doses, showed a positive influence on telomere length. Additional research is needed to learn more about the role of different doses of danazol on telomere disease as well as its effects on secondary diseases.

Doctors at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are conducting a study on patients with clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP). Patients with CHIP have a genetic mutation that has been associated with blood cancer. The study will look at CHIP and try to determine its relationship to blood cancers and heart disease. The study will also try to discover other new organs or diseases that may be linked with.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is looking for volunteers who use opiates regularly or who are receiving treatment for opiate use. The purpose is to learn how opiates affect brain function.

Fanconi anemia is a rare genetic disorder that mostly affects children and often leads to bone marrow failure. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are investigating a new drug to improve blood counts in individuals diagnosed with Fanconi anemia. Eltrombopag is an oral drug that mimics a special protein that causes the body to make more platelets. Currently eltrombopag is used to treat low platelet counts in patients with hepatitis C and chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). Researchers are evaluating if this new drug will improve blood cell counts in individuals diagnosed with Fanconi anemia.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease that damages the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). This leads to increased physical disability over time. The disease is lifelong once it begins. Researchers want to learn more about the stages of multiple sclerosis and follow them until a person's death to understand how the physical and clinical signs of MS relate to its changes over time.

Treatment of severe aplastic anemia (SAA) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) usually involves a bone marrow transplant. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are testing ways to make transplant using unrelated donor cells from umbilical cord blood safer and more effective. We hope these procedures will reduce post-transplant complications and improve transplant outcomes.

Severe aplastic anemia is a rare and serious blood disorder. Patients with severe aplastic anemia commonly receive Cyclosporine to help improve blood counts. When cyclosporine treatment stops, the disease may return in one in three people. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center are studying if sirolimus, an immunosuppressant, can help prevent a relapse in patients diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia following cyclosporine treatment.