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[from the American Cancer Society]

More than 190 Jackson, Miss. area residents have registered for the historic cancer research study called Cancer Prevention Study – 3(CPS-3). So now with less than three weeks away from the event, the American Cancer Society is urging local residents to sign up today and take part in CPS-3 so that cancer’s greatest mysteries can be unlocked and give scientists a better understanding of cancer causes and prevention.

The Society is looking for local men and women between the ages of 30 and 65 from various racial/ethnic backgrounds with no personal history of cancer to help reach full enrollment of at least 300,000 people.

The opportunity for local residents to enroll in CPS-3 will be during April 23-27 and in partnership with Central Mississippi Medical Center, Broadmoor Baptist Church, Mississippi State Capitol, and Hinds Community College – Rankin Campus. Participants can register in the study by going to www.cps3jackson.org.

"Enrolling in Cancer Prevention Study-3 is so easy! What if simply by your participation in this study, your information, DNA, etc has the keys to preventing cancer? The more people who enroll, the more data the researchers have to study," explained JeanAnn Reeves, CPS-3 Jackson organizer. "I encourage all those eligible to schedule their appointment at www.cps3jackson.org today!"

Signing up requires a one-time in-person visit to read and sign a consent form, complete a survey, have your waist measured, and give a small non-fasting blood sample like what you’d do during a routine doctor visit. Participants will also complete a more detailed survey at home and will continue to receive periodic follow-up surveys in the future that researchers will use to look for more clues to cancer’s causes.

“Many individuals diagnosed with cancer struggle to answer the question, ‘What caused my cancer?’ In many cases, we don’t know the answer,” said Alpa V. Patel, Ph.D., principal investigator of CPS-3. “CPS-3 will help us better understand what factors cause cancer, and once we know that, we can be better equipped to prevent cancer.”

CPS-3 is the latest addition to the Society’s groundbreaking cancer prevention studies, which have been instrumental in helping identify major factors that can affect cancer risk. Researchers say CPS-3 holds the best hope of identifying new and emerging cancer risks. But its success depends on members of the community becoming involved. Researchers will use data from CPS-3 to build on evidence from those earlier cancer prevention studies, which began in the 1950s and involved hundreds of thousands of volunteer participants.

“Among other findings, these cancer prevention studies have confirmed the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, demonstrated the link between larger waist size and increased death rates from cancer and other causes, and showed the considerable impact of air pollution on heart and lung conditions, said Reeves. “Changes in lifestyle over the past several decades as well as a better understanding of cancer make this latest chapter in this lifesaving series of studies a critical part of continuing the progress we’re seeing against the disease.”

For more information or to learn how to become involved with CPS-3, visit http://www.cps3jackson.org/">www.cps3jackson.org, email [email protected], or call toll-free 1-888-604-5888.