Conditions: Uterine Cervical Neoplasms
Keywords: Uterine Cervical Cancer Cancer of Cervix Cervix Cancer
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 3
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The treatment of cervical cancer with chemotherapy and radiation will make women post menopausal (no estrogen from the ovaries), if a woman is not already in menopause. Estrogen plays a key role in maintaining bone health. Therefore, these women are at higher risk of getting osteoporosis (decrease minerals in the bone) and bone fractures. The overall purpose of this research is to look at the effects of zoledronic acid (Zometa) on preventing bone loss. Studies have also shown that zoledronic acid may prevent metastasis to the bone which can occur in women with cervical cancer. Zometa is investigational (not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)) in this study to prevent metastasis to the bone in women with cervical cancer. Therefore, the goal of this study is to also look at the effects of zoledronic acid (Zometa) on circulating tumor cells in the bone marrow and blood. This study is being done to find a way to prevent bone loss and metastasis to the bone in women undergoing chemotherapy and radiation for cervical cancer. An additional component of the study is to assess the importance of stress on immune markers in blood during standard treatment.

Detailed description:
OBJECTIVES

* To determine the incidence of disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) in bone marrow and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood of women with cervical cancer at diagnosis and 3 to 9 months after chemotherapy and pelvic radiation with and without Zometa.
* To determine the change in biochemical markers of bone turnover from diagnosis to 9 months after radiation in women receiving chemoradiation for cervical cancer with and without Zometa.
* To determine change in bone mineral density from diagnosis to 9 month after chemoradiation with and without Zometa.
* To determine if depressed and anxious mood are associated with greater impairment of adaptive immunity (ratio of Th1/Th2) and higher levels of angiogenesis (VEGF) in peripheral blood of cervical cancer patients.
* To examine the relationship of standardized uptake values (SUV)Max and metabolic heterogeneity in the primary tumor and evidence of persistent/recurrent disease on the 3 and 9 month Fludeoxyglucose (FDG)-Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans with DTCs and CTCs.

Arms:
arm 1: Women will complete their standard chemoradiation treatment protocol and end of treatment PET scan at about 3 months from completion of radiation. All interventions on this arm are standard of care. arm 2: Women will complete their standard chemoradiation treatment protocol and end of treatment PET scan at about 3 months from completion of radiation. Women randomized to zoledronic acid will receive 4 mg intravenously (IV) with their first dose chemotherapy and 3, 6 and 9 months after completion of radiation (total of 4 doses) along with scheduled follow-up dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and biomarker studies.

Interventions: intervention 1: Zoledronic acid
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: None

Protocol document: