Research indicates that a low percentage of cancer patients enroll in cancer clinical trials. This is especially true among minority groups such as Hispanic Americans. Considering the importance of religion in the Hispanic American community, it is important to understand its relationship to perceptions of clinical trials. Five hundred and three Latina women completed the Barriers to Clinical Trials Participation Scale and the Duke University Religion Index. For the total sample, higher organizational and intrinsic religiosity were significantly associated with perceived lack of community support for clinical trials participation. In subgroup analysis, the relationship between organizational religiosity and lack of support was stronger among Latinas who were Spanish language-preference, and Latinas who were Catholic. Intrinsic religiosity was associated with mistrust among Spanish language-preference Latinas, and both organizational and intrinsic religiosity were associated with lack of familiarity with clinical trials among Christian (non-Catholic) Latinas. These results indicate religious institutions that serve Latinas may be an effective venue for disseminating clinical trial education programs to improve attitudes toward clinical trials participation.

BackgroundImmunity against the T cell receptor (TCR) is considered to play a central role in the regulation of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model system of autoimmune disease characterized by a restricted usage of TCR genes. Methods of specific vaccination against the TCR of pathogenetic T cells have included attenuated T cells and synthetic peptides from the sequence of the TCR. These approaches have led to the concept that anti-idiotypic immunity against antigenic sites of the TCR, which are a key regulatory element in this disease.MethodsThe present study in the Lewis rat used a conventional idiotypic immunization based on antigenized antibodies expressing selected peptide sequences of the Vβ8.2 TCR (93ASSDSSNTE101 and 39DMGHGLRLIHYSYDVNSTEKG59).ResultsThe study demonstrates that vaccination with antigenized antibodies markedly attenuates, and in some instances, prevents clinical EAE induced with the encephalitogenic peptide 68GSLPQKSQRSQDENPVVHF88 in complete Freunds' adjuvant (CFA). Antigenized antibodies induced an anti-idiotypic response against the Vβ8.2 TCR, which was detected by ELISA and flowcytometry. No evidence was obtained of a T cell response against the corresponding Vβ8.2 TCR peptides.ConclusionsThe results indicate that antigenized antibodies expressing conformationally-constrained TCR peptides are a simple means to induce humoral anti-idiotypic immunity against the TCR and to vaccinate against EAE. The study also suggests the possibility to target idiotypic determinants of TCR borne on pathogenetic T cells to vaccinate against disease.