Cyclophosphamide Treatment Options in Maryland

The purpose of this early (pilot) clinical trial is to test the effects (both good and bad) of chemotherapy and adoptive immunotherapy with T cells engineered to recognize NY-ESO-1 peptide in patients with unresectable, metastatic or recurrent synovial sarcoma. Read Less

Background: * Severe aplastic anemia (SAA) can lead to problems with bone marrow health and result in low blood cell counts, which require frequent transfusions. Standard initial treatment for SAA involves injections of antithymocyte globulin (ATG) plus cyclosporine (CsA). Patients with SAA who do not respond to initial treatment with ATG (refractory) have a high risk of dying without additional treatment. In these cases, for those who do not have a matched bone marrow transplant donor there is no well-defined standard therapy. In our experience with patients who do not respond to horse ATG + CsA, only about one-third of patients who are re-treated with rabbit ATG + CsA improve. Experience with cyclophosphamide in the treatment of refractory severe aplastic anemia suggests that this drug is able to improve blood counts in about 50% of cases. However, the cyclophosphamide regimen has been associated with a significant infection risk (mostly caused by fungus) in studies conducted over 10 years ago due to the lowering of the white blood cell levels. * Better antibiotic drugs against fungus have been developed and are widely used to treat patients who have low white blood cell counts and are at risk of developing infections. In SAA patients in particular, these newer antibiotics have had a large impact in preventing and treating fungus infections. Researchers are revisiting the use of cyclophosphamide at lower doses to minimize its side effects given in combination with another immune suppressant, fludarabine. Objectives: - To determine the safety and effectiveness of the combination of fludarabine plus cyclophosphamide in treating severe aplastic anemia that has not responded to initial treatments. Read Less

Bone marrow stem cell transplants (otherwise called bone marrow transplants) from healthy donors are sometimes the only means of curing hematological malignant diseases such as acute and chronic leukemias, myelodysplastic syndrome, myeloproliferative diseases and lymphomas. Before transplant the patient receives chemotherapy and radiation treatment to reduce the malignancy to low levels and to prevent rejection of the transplant. The transplant restores the blood counts to normal and replaces the patients immunity with that of the donor. The donors immune cells increase the effect of the transplant by attacking remaining malignant cells. Donor immune cells (especially those called T lymphocytes) also attack healthy non-cancerous cells and tissues of the recipient causing "graft-versus-host-disease" (GVHD). Strong GVHD reactions occurring within weeks after the transplant can be life-threatening . In this study we remove most of the T lymphocytes from the transplant to minimize the risk of GVHD. However to improve immunity against residual malignant cells and boost immunity to infections, donor T cells (stored frozen at time of transplant) are given back around 90 days after the transplant when they have a reduced risk of causing serious GVHD. Any patient between 10 and 75 years of age with acute or chronic leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, myeloproliferative syndromes or lymphoma, who have a family member who is a suitable stem cell donor may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a medical history and various tests and examinations. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and paclitaxel, use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Monoclonal antibodies such as trastuzumab can locate tumor cells and either kill them or deliver tumor-killing substances to them without harming normal cells. It is not yet known whether combination chemotherapy plus trastuzumab is more effective than combination chemotherapy alone for treating breast cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying how well giving combination chemotherapy together with trastuzumab works compared to combination chemotherapy alone in treating women with node-positive stage II or stage IIIA breast cancer that overexpresses HER2. Read Less

This randomized clinical trial is studying giving calaspargase pegol together with combination chemotherapy to see how well it works compared with giving pegaspargase together with combination chemotherapy in treating younger patients with newly diagnosed high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) may kill more cancer cells. Read Less

This randomized phase III trial is studying dexamethasone to see how well it works compared to prednisone during induction therapy. This trial is also studying methotrexate and leucovorin calcium to see how well they work compared to methotrexate alone during maintenance therapy in treating patients with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as dexamethasone, prednisone, methotrexate, and leucovorin calcium, work in different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Giving more than one drug may kill more cancer cells. It is not yet known which combination chemotherapy regimen is more effective in treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Read Less

This study will be looking at whether CY/GVAX in combination with SGI-110 is effective (recruits CD45RO+ T cells to the tumor which may be a marker of anti-tumor activity) and safe in patients with metastatic colon or rectum cancers. Read Less

The primary objective of this study is to compare the overall survival (OS) of subjects with previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer treated with cyclophosphamide (CY)/nivolumab/GVAX pancreas vaccine followed by nivolumab/CRS-207 (Arm A) to subjects treated with CY/GVAX pancreas vaccine followed by CRS-207 (Arm B). Read Less

Background: * One way to treat certain cancers of the blood and immune system is to give a patient stem cells from the bone marrow of a donor whose genes are very similar but not identical to the patients. One problem with these transplants is that the new immune cells may not work as well in the recipient as they did in the donor. The result may be that the immune system will not work as well. This can increase the risk of severe infections and other complications. * Researchers are studying the use of drugs that lower hormone levels and may allow the immune system to recover in a way that improves white blood cell function. In this study they will be looking at the drug leuprolide, a drug that lowers estrogen or testosterone levels, to see if it might improve the function of the newly transplanted cells. Objectives: * To determine whether leuprolide improves immune system function after bone marrow transplant from a donor with similarities in their immune cells (matched to each other). * To evaluate the effectiveness of a nuclear medicine test with a radiotracer drug 3-deoxy-3 18F-fluorothymidine (FLT) in imaging studies. FLT will be used to image the immune system function in patients who have received bone marrow from the donor. Eligibility: * People between 15 (or as young as 9 in those who have gone through puberty) and 55 years of age. These patients must have acute myelogenous leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia, high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, or chronic myeloid leukemia. They must also be eligible for a bone marrow transplant. * Genetically similar donors for the patients who are eligible for a transplant. Design: * People taking part in the study will be screened with a physical examination, medical history, blood and urine tests, and imaging studies. Patients who are not in remission or who require a bone marrow donor search may receive chemotherapy first. * Donors will provide bone marrow for transplant according to standard bone marrow transplant (BMT) procedures. * All women and half of the men will receive regular leuprolide doses 2 weeks before BMT to suppress hormone function. * All recipients will receive 4 days of radiation followed by 2-4 days of chemotherapy before the bone marrow transplant (depending on age). Recipients will also receive other drugs to prevent transplant rejection and other complications of transplantation. * Recipients will be monitored in the hospital for 4 weeks after transplant with blood tests and other studies. * Some recipients will have an imaging study with FLT during the protocol. These imaging studies will take place before the transplant, on days 5 and 28 after transplant, and at a later time to be determined by the study researchers. * Following discharge, participants will be monitored closely for up to 6 months, with regular but less frequent followup visits for at least 5 years. Study-related medications, including vaccinations for the new immune system, will be provided by the National Institutes of Health during the hospital stay and after discharge. Read Less

Patient Population: Patients with active myeloma (Stage II/III) that have completed induction therapy and are eligible for an autologous stem cell transplant. Number of Patients: Will treat a total of 32 evaluable patients in a 1:1 randomization of aMILs vs aMILs plus vaccine. An evaluable patient is defined as one which has received the activated MILs and is at least 6 months post-transplant. Study Objectives: Disease response as determined by the Blade' criteria will be the primary endpoint of the trial at one year. Additional study endpoints include progression free survival, parameters of T cell reconstitution, anti-tumor immune responses as well as the effect on osteoclastogenesis and clonogenic myeloma precursor cells. Read Less

Background: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Surgery Branch has developed an experimental therapy for treating patients with cancer that involves taking white blood cells from the patient, growing them in the laboratory in large numbers, genetically modifying them, and then giving the cells back to the patient. In a previous study the NCI Surgery Branch used the anti-ESO-1 gene and a type of virus (retrovirus) to make these tumor fighting cells (anti-ESO-1 cells). About half of the patients who received this treatment experienced shrinking of their tumors. In this study, we are using a slightly different method of producing the anti-ESO-1 cells which we hope will be better in making the tumors shrink. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to see if these tumor fighting cells (genetically modified cells) that express the receptor for the ESO-1 molecule on their surface can cause tumors to shrink and to see if this treatment is safe. Eligibility: - Patients 15 years old and older with cancer that has the ESO-1 molecule on their tumors. Design: * Work up stage: Patients will be seen as an outpatient at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical Center and undergo a history and physical examination, scans, x-rays, lab tests, and other tests as needed * Leukapheresis: If the patients meet all of the requirements for the study they will undergo leukapheresis to obtain white blood cells to make the anti ESO-1 cells. {Leukapheresis is a common procedure which removes only the white blood cells from the patient.} * Treatment: Once their cells have grown the patients will be admitted to the hospital for the conditioning chemotherapy, the anti-ESO-1 cells and aldesleukin. They will stay in the hospital for about 4 weeks for the treatment. * Follow up: Patients will return to the clinic for a physical exam, review of side effects, lab tests, and scans about every 1-3 months for the first year, and then every 6 months to 1 year as long as their tumors are shrinking. Follow up visits take up to 2 days. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. It is not yet known whether combination chemotherapy alone or combination chemotherapy plus radiation therapy is more effective for childhood kidney cancer. PURPOSE: Phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy in treating children who have kidney cancer. Read Less