Cyclophosphamide Treatment Options in Memphis, TN

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy work in 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 chemotherapy is more effective with or without radiation therapy in treating patients who have rhabdomyosarcoma. PURPOSE: Phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy in treating patients who have newly-diagnosed rhabdomyosarcoma. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as topotecan and cyclophosphamide, use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplantation may allow the doctor to give higher doses of chemotherapy drugs and kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects of induction chemotherapy using cyclophosphamide and topotecan in treating patients who are undergoing surgery and autologous stem cell transplantation followed by radiation therapy for newly diagnosed or progressive neuroblastoma. Read Less

RATIONALE: Seneca Valley virus-001 may be able to kill certain kinds of tumor cells without damaging normal cells. Adding low dose cyclophosphamide (in part B of study) may help to kill even more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of Seneca Valley virus-001 in treating young patients with relapsed or refractory neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, or rare tumors with neuroendocrine features. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. Peripheral stem cell transplantation may be able to replace immune cells that were destroyed by chemotherapy used to kill tumor cells, allowing higher doses of chemotherapy to be used. PURPOSE: Phase I/II trial to study the effectiveness of paclitaxel added to a regimen of high-dose chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide and carboplatin followed by peripheral stem cell transplantation in treating women with metastatic breast cancer. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Microwave thermotherapy kills tumor cells by heating them to several degrees above body temperature. Combining chemotherapy with microwave thermotherapy before surgery may shrink the tumor so that it can be removed during surgery. PURPOSE: Randomized phase II trial to compare the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy with or without microwave thermotherapy before surgery in treating women who have locally advanced breast cancer. Read Less

RATIONALE: Monoclonal antibodies such as rituximab can locate cancer cells and either kill them or deliver cancer-killing substances to them without harming normal cells. Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one chemotherapy drug with rituximab may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of rituximab plus combination chemotherapy in treating patients who have intermediate-grade or high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effect on the body of combining cyclophosphamide with cisplatin, etoposide, and bleomycin in treating children who have newly diagnosed malignant germ cell tumors that are not in the brain and gonads. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy in treating patients who have non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or acute lymphocytic leukemia. Read Less

The prognosis of pediatric patients with hematologic malignancies whose disease is primarily refractory or those who experience a chemotherapy resistant bone marrow relapse is extremely poor. When new agents or chemotherapeutic regimens are unable to induce remission in this patient population, hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is also a poor alternative. Thus, in this very high risk group, additional attempts at remission induction with various combinations of chemotherapy alone will unlikely improve outcome and will contribute to overall toxicity. Alternative therapies are needed in these patients with chemotherapy resistant disease. Immunotherapy with natural killer (NK) cell infusion has the potential to decrease toxicity and induce hematologic remission. NK cells can kill target cells, including leukemia cells, without prior exposure to those cells. In patients undergoing allogeneic HSCT, several studies have demonstrated the powerful effect of NK cells against leukemia. Furthermore, NK cell infusions in patients with primary refractory or multiple-relapsed leukemia have been shown to be well tolerated and void of graft-versus-host disease effects. In this high risk group, complete leukemic remission has been observed in several of these patients after NK cell infusion. With the current technology available at St. Jude, we have developed a procedure to purify NK cells from adult donors. This protocol will assess the safety of chemotherapy and IL-2 administration to facilitate transient NK-cell engraftment in research participants who have chemotherapy refractory hematologic malignancies including acute lymphoblastic leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia, juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In this same cohort, we will also intend to explore the efficacy of NK cells infused in those participants who have chemotherapy refractory disease. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. It is not known whether combining chemotherapy with bone marrow or peripheral stem cell transplantation is more effective than combination chemotherapy alone in treating men with germ cell tumors. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy with or without bone marrow or peripheral stem cell transplantation in treating men with previously untreated germ cell tumors. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Peripheral stem cell transplantation may allow the doctor to give higher doses of chemotherapy drugs and kill more tumor cells. Interferon alfa may interfere with the growth of cancer cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to determine the effectiveness of giving interferon alfa after chemotherapy and peripheral stem cell transplantation to patients who have stage III or stage IV multiple myeloma and who have been treated with high-dose melphalan. Read Less

RATIONALE: Vaccines made from tumor tissue may make the body build an immune response and kill tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of vaccine therapy in treating patients who have stage III or stage IV ovarian epithelial cancer. Read Less