Glossary
A - H
Action studies:
In cancer prevention clinical trials, studies that focus on
finding out whether actions people take can prevent cancer.
Agent studies:
In cancer prevention clinical trials, studies that focus
on examining whether taking certain medicines, vitamins, minerals,
or food supplements can prevent cancer.
Benign: Not
cancerous; cannot invade neighboring tissues or spread to other
parts of the body.
Bias: Having
an idea about what the study results will show before the clinical
trial is conducted.
Chemoprevention
studies: Also called "cancer prevention agent studies."
Cancer prevention studies that test whether the study agent
usually medicines, vitamins, minerals, food supplements, or
a combination of them can reduce a person's chances of getting
cancer.
Clinical trials:
Also called "clinical studies." Research studies with people.
Each trial tries to answer specific scientific questions and
to find better ways to prevent, detect, or treat diseases or
to improve care.
Colon polyps:
Abnormal growths of tissue on the lining of the bowel. Polyps
are a risk factor for cancer of the bowel.
Consent form:
A document that provides key facts about a clinical trial. This
includes information about the study agent, tests that study
participants may have, and possible benefits and risks. Although
all participants in a clinical trial must sign a consent form,
they can leave the study at any time. As a trial proceeds, there
may be new consent forms.
Control group:
In a Phase III cancer prevention clinical trial of a study agent,
the group that receives either a placebo or a standard agent
that is being compared to a new agent.
Data Safety and
Monitoring Committee: An impartial group that provides oversight
of a clinical trial and reviews the results to see if they are
acceptable. This group determines if the trial should be altered
or closed.
Double-blind:
A method used to prevent bias in a clinical trial. Neither the
participants nor the doctor knows who is taking the study agent
and who is not. Only researchers at a central office know.
Environmental
risk factor: A hazardous agent that is known to cause cancer
or increase risk when people are exposed to it, for example
asbestos, radon, and second-hand smoke.
Followup:
Keeping track of the health of people who participate in a clinical
study for a period of time during the study and after the study
ends.
Gene alterations:
Changes in the cells' unit of inheritance that may be good or
bad for the body.
Hereditary risk
factor: Altered or mutated genes that make it more likely
that a person will develop cancer. Also called an "inherited"
risk factor, but this does not necessarily have to be inherited
from a parent. It can be acquired in a germline cell through
lifestyle behaviors or through exposure to hazards in the environment.
Once this cell is altered, the mutated gene can pass to the
next generation.
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National Cancer Institute
April 1999
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