Dexamethasone Treatment Options in Minneapolis, MN

RATIONALE: Monoclonal antibodies, such as rituximab, can block cancer growth in different ways. Some find cancer cells and help kill them or carry cancer-killing substances to them. Others interfere with the ability of cancer cells to grow and spread. Drugs used in chemotherapy also work in different ways to kill more cancer cells or stop them from growing. It is not yet known whether rituximab is more effective with combination chemotherapy or bendamustine hydrochloride in treating patients with mantle cell lymphoma undergoing peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. PURPOSE: This randomized phase II trial studies how well giving rituximab together with combination chemotherapy or bendamustine hydrochloride followed by consolidation chemotherapy and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation works in treating older patients with previously untreated mantle cell lymphoma. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to compare the effects, good and/or bad, of a standard chemotherapy regimen for AML that includes the drugs daunorubicin and cytarabine combined with or without midostaurin (also known as PKC412), to find out which is better. This research is being done because it is unknown whether the addition of midostaurin to chemotherapy treatment is better than chemotherapy treatment alone. Midostaurin has been tested in over 400 patients and is being studied in a number of illnesses, including AML, colon cancer, and lung cancer. Midostaurin blocks an enzyme, produced by a gene known as FLT3, that may have a role in the survival and growth of AML cells. Not all leukemia cells will have the abnormal FLT3 gene. This study will focus only on patients with leukemia cells with the abnormal FLT3 gene. Read Less

This randomized phase III trial is studying different combination chemotherapy regimens and comparing how well they work in treating patients with newly diagnosed 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 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 is a pilot study using decitabine and vorinostat before and during chemotherapy with vincristine, dexamethasone, mitoxantrone, and peg-asparaginase in pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Read Less

This study is designed to compare the treatment effect of PEGPH20 combined with nab-paclitaxel (NAB) and gemcitabine (GEM) \[PAG\] to NAB and GEM \[AG\] in participants with Stage IV previously untreated pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA). The study will have 2 run-in phases, one for each formulation of PEGPH20 (original and new formulations), and a Phase 2 portion. The 2 run-in phases will evaluate the safety and tolerability of the PAG treatment using the original and new succinic acid PEGPH20 formulation, respectively, compared with AG treatment. Phase 2 will have 2 stages due to a partial clinical hold that occurred from April through July 2014. The participants will be randomized in 3:1 for the run-in phases. The first stage will randomize participants in a 1:1 ratio. The second stage will randomize participants in a 2:1 ratio (PAG:AG). This is an open-label study. To minimize bias to the progression-free survival endpoint, disease progression will be based on the assessment of the Central Imaging Reader (CIR). Determination of clinical progression by the Investigator without corresponding CIR confirmation will be documented with the relevant signs and symptoms. Read Less

This phase II/III trial is studying the side effects and how well giving dasatinib together with combination chemotherapy works in treating young patients with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Dasatinib may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. 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 dasatinib together with combination chemotherapy may kill more cancer cells. Read Less

Panobinostat (LBH589) is a highly potent pan-deacetylase inhibitor (pan-DACi), inclusive of HDAC6, which disrupts aggresome function, promotes accumulation of cytotoxic misfolded protein aggregates and triggers myeloma cell death. Combination of pan-DAC and protease inhibition by co-treatment with panobinostat (PAN) and bortezomib (BTZ) has demonstrated synergistic cytotoxicity in vitro and in vivo in pre-clinical experiments. Furthermore, clinical experience in advanced multiple myeloma (MM) patients treated by oral panobinostat and i.v bortezomib ± dexamethasone showed very encouraging results for efficacy and manageable toxicity profile. Given the medical need for improved treatment strategies for patients with previously treated and relapsed MM, the purpose of this prospective, multinational, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group Phase III study is to compare the results in progression-free survival of 2 combination therapies, panobinostat with bortezomib and dexamethasone or placebo with bortezomib and dexamethasone, in patients with previously treated MM whose disease has recurred or progressed. Read Less

This is a Phase I/II study of a drug called bortezomib given in combination with chemotherapy drugs used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that has come back (recurred). Bortezomib is a drug that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating adults with multiple myeloma which is a type of blood cancer. Bortezomib has been shown to cause cancer cells to die in studies done on animals (mice). Studies have been done that have shown that some adults and children with cancer have shown a response to bortezomib when it is used alone. Studies have also been done in adults to evaluate the dose of bortezomib that can be safely given in combination with other chemotherapy drugs. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. It is not yet known which regimen of combination chemotherapy is most effective for lymphoblastic lymphoma. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying different regimens of combination chemotherapy to compare how well they work in treating children or adolescents with newly diagnosed stage III or stage IV lymphoblastic lymphoma. Read Less

Although anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy is generally effective as treatment for center-involved diabetic macular edema (DME), a substantial proportion of anti-VEGF-treated eyes with DME do not achieve vision of 20/20 or complete resolution of retinal thickening. Indeed, over 50% of ranibizumab-treated eyes did not achieve a 2 or more line improvement in visual acuity from baseline at 2 years in Protocol I, a previous DRCR.net (Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network) study. Furthermore, 27% of ranibizumab-treated eyes still had central subfield (CSF) thickness on time-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) ≥ 300 at 1 year, and more than 40% of ranibizumab-treated eyes did not achieve complete resolution of retinal thickening (\< 250 microns) by 2 years. Thus, there is a need for alternative or additional treatments that will improve vision by reducing retinal edema in eyes with persistent DME following previous anti-VEGF therapy. Intravitreal steroid is not as efficacious as ranibizumab in eyes with DME overall, but it has been shown to have a positive effect for DME in some eyes and might add benefit in eyes that are already receiving anti-VEGF. The main objective of this study is to assess the short-term effects of combination steroid+anti-VEGF therapy on visual acuity and retinal thickness on OCT in comparison with that of continued anti-VEGF therapy alone in eyes with persistent central-involved DME and visual acuity impairment despite previous anti-VEGF treatment. This study will provide important information for the design of a future confirmatory phase III clinical trial on the efficacy of combination steroid and anti-VEGF in eyes with persistent DME and vision impairment following previous anti-VEGF therapy. The primary outcome for efficacy will be the mean change in visual acuity at 24 weeks. Each study eye is required to complete a 12-week run-in phase. The run-in phase will identify study eyes that truly have persistent DME despite anti-VEGF therapy by requiring an additional 3 injections while also collecting standardized visual acuity and OCT measurements. At the enrollment, 4-week and 8-week visits of the run-in phase, enrolled eyes will receive an intravitreal injection of ranibizumab 3mg. Then at the 12-week run-in visit, if the eye still has persistent DME, it will be randomized to receive either intravitreal sham+intravitreal ranibizumab 0.3 or intravitreal dexamethasone+intravitreal ranibizumab 0.3 injections. The randomized study duration is 24 week, during which a protocol visit takes place every month. The combination injections of sham+ranibizumab or dexamethasone +ranibizumab will be given at the randomization visit (baseline) and at the 12-week visit after randomization. In between, an intravitreal injection of ranibizumab only will be given to study eyes at the 4, 8, 16 and 20 week visits. Read Less