Neuroblastoma Clinical Trials

The goal of the Molecular Characterization Trial (MCT) is to obtain biological specimens and data resources from patients enrolled on prospective trials, to ensure that the Harvard/UCSF ROBIN Center accomplishes its key objective of advancing our understanding of the biological mechanisms that underlie how radiation treats tumors but also can cause unwanted side effects. The MCT focuses on collection of research biospecimens before, during, and after radiation. Also critical to the MCT is the deep annotation of these research biospecimens with elements that complement each other to provide a holistic, detailed view of each patient. Annotated elements include those used in the past such as clinical and biological features but extend to factors we have so far neglected but must incorporate in the future such as dosimetry (precise anatomical measurement of radiation dose), artificial intelligence, computational biology, and natural language processing. Read Less

PET (positron emission tomography) scans combined with a radioactive tracer will be used to identify and analyze tumors. Currently, the most common tracer used to analyze neuroblastoma tumors is called 123I-mIBG. However, the picture it provides is not always clear enough to see the very small areas of the disease. 18F-DA (18F-fluorodopamine) has been shown to be safe and more effective than 123I-mIBG in analyzing the tumor pheochromocytoma, which is closely related to neuroblastoma. With this research study, the investigators plan to meet the following goals: * Investigate to see if 18F-DA is safe to administer to pediatric patients with known or suspected neuroblastoma or pheochromocytoma * Examine where in the body 18F-DA goes. * Obtain information comparing 18F-DA to 123I-mIBG to see if 18F-DA could replace 123I-mIBG in the future. About 20 people, with known or suspected neuroblastoma or pheochromocytoma, will take part in this Pilot study at St. Jude. Read Less

This is a phase II study looking at patient response to treatment with the combination dinutuximab, temozolomide, irinotecan, and GM-CSF. Read Less

Pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB) is a rare malignant neoplasm of the lung presenting in early childhood. Type I PPB is a purely cystic lesion, Type II is a partially cystic, partially solid tumor, Type III is a completely solid tumor. Treatment of children with PPB is at the discretion of the treating institution. This study builds off of the 2009 study and will also seek to enroll individuals with DICER1-associated conditions, some of whom may present only with the DICER1 gene mutation, which will help the Registry understand how these tumors and conditions develop, their clinical course and the most effective treatments. Read Less

This observational study is to better understand how children and their families recover after the stress of major surgery for cancer so that investigators can create ways to improve resilience during recovery. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Can information obtained from patients and their caregivers wearing smartwatches and answering questionnaires be used to measure how patients are recovering from surgery? 2. Are there specific patterns in patients' circulating proteins and metabolites that are associated with stress after surgery? Participants, including pediatric patients undergoing surgery for cancer and their primary caregiver, will be asked to: * wear a smartwatch * complete questionnaires * allow for extra blood to be drawn for this research study when they are having their regular blood draws for clinical purposes These actions will occur at baseline prior to patients' surgery and then afterwards for up to one year. There are no changes to participants' clinical care or surgical care as a result of the study. Investigators will also collect participants' clinical information and cancer-specific outcomes. Participants will be remunerated for their time. Read Less

The body has different ways of fighting infections and disease. No single way seems perfect for fighting cancer. This research study combines two different ways of fighting disease: antibodies and T cells. Antibodies are molecules that fight infections and protect your body from diseases caused by bacteria and toxic substances. Antibodies work by sticking to those bacteria or substances, which stops them from growing and causing bad effects. T cells are special infection-fighting blood cells that can kill other cells, including tumor cells or cells that are infected. Both antibodies and T cells have been used to treat patients with cancers. They both have shown promise, but neither alone has been enough to cure most patients. This multicenter study is designed to combine both T cells and antibodies in order to create a more effective treatment. The treatment that is being researched is called autologous T lymphocyte chimeric antigen receptor cells (CAR) cells targeted against the disialoganglioside (GD2) antigen that express Interleukin (IL)-15, and the inducible caspase 9 safety switch (iC9), also known as iC9.GD2.CAR.IL-15 T cells. Read Less

The purpose of this research study is to find how active and safe 131 I-MIBG is in patients with resistant neuroblastoma, malignant pheochromocytoma and malignant paraganglioma. Read Less

A pilot pharmacokinetic trial to determine the safety and efficacy of a flavored, orally administered irinotecan VAL-413 (Orotecan®) given with temozolomide for treatment of recurrent pediatric solid tumors including but not limited to neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, hepatoblastoma and medulloblastoma Read Less

This research study combines two different ways of fighting cancer: antibodies and Natural Killer T cells (NKT). Antibodies are types of proteins that protect the body from infectious diseases and possibly cancer. T cells, also called T lymphocytes, are special white blood cells that can kill other cells, including cells infected with viruses and tumor cells. Both antibodies and T cells have been used to treat patients with cancers. Investigators have found from previous research that they can put a new gene into T cells that will make them recognize cancer cells and kill them. In a previous clinical trial, investigators made artificial genes called a chimeric antigen receptors (CAR), from an antibody called 14g2a that recognizes GD2, a molecule found on almost all neuroblastoma cells (GD2-CAR). Investigators put these genes into the patients' own T cells and gave them back to patients that had neuroblastoma. NKT cells are another special subgroup of white blood cells that can specifically go into tumor tissue of neuroblastoma. Inside the tumor, there are other white blood cells called macrophages which help the cancer cells to grow and recover from injury. NKT cells can specifically kill these macrophages and slow the tumor growth. We will expand NKT cells and add GD2-specific chimeric antigen receptors to the cells. We think these cells might be better able to attack NB since they also work by destroying the macrophages that allows the tumor to grow. The chimeric antigen receptor will also contain a gene segment to make the NKT cells last longer. This gene segment is called CD28. In addition, to further improve the antitumor activity of the GINAKIT cells we added another gene expressing a molecule called Interleukin -15 (IL-15). The combination of these 3 components showed the most antitumor activity by CAR expressing NKT cells and improved these cells' survival in animal models. We also found that a medicine called ETANercept can slow down neuroblastoma growth, which might enhance the effects of the modified cells. In this part of our study, we aim to treat children with hard-to-treat neuroblastoma using these modified NKT cells along with ETANercept. Though ETANercept has been used to treat other diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis in children, there is limited information about the safety, efficacy, and risk of ETANercept treatment in combination with cellular therapies. GD2-CAR expressing NKTs have not been tested in patients so far. The purpose of this study is to find the largest effective and safe dose of GD2-CAR NKT cells (GINAKIT cells), to evaluate their effect on the tumor and how long they can be detected in the patient's blood and what affect they have on the patient's neuroblastoma. Read Less

9-ING-41 has anti-cancer clinical activity with no significant toxicity in adult patients. This Phase 1 study will study its efficacy in paediatric patients with advanced malignancies. Read Less

This phase I trial studies the safety of transplantation with a haploidentical donor peripheral blood stem cell graft depleted of TCRαβ+ cells and CD19+ cells in conjunction with the immunomodulating drug, Zoledronate, given in the post-transplant period to treat pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies or high risk solid tumors. Read Less

This study will expand the types of pediatric cancers being evaluated for response to cabozantinib. The current COG study is restricted to Ewing sarcoma, osteosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, Wilms tumor, and a handful of uncommon tumors. The proposed study will extend this evaluation to tumors that have been shown to either express known targets of cabozantinib or with preclinical evidence of efficacy, including specifically neuroblastomas. These tumors have high morbidity and mortality, particularly in the relapse setting, and few or no proven therapeutic options. As such, evaluation of cabozantinib in these studies is warranted. The study hypothesizes that use of cabozantinib in patients with ultra-high-risk pediatric solid tumors with minimal disease burden, as defined in the inclusion criteria below, can prevent and/or slow recurrent tumor formation in pediatric solid tumors and thereby significantly extend the period of disease control and/or induce a durable cure. Read Less