Paclitaxel Treatment Options in Wisconsin

The purpose of this study is to compare the effects, good and/or bad, of standard of care therapy (docetaxel or paclitaxel) with or without the addition of 1-Methyl-D-tryptophan (referred to as indoximod) an experimental drug to find out which treatment is better. Read Less

Unfortunately, despite the best clinical efforts and breakthroughs in biotechnology, most patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer continue to die from the rapid progression of their disease. One primary reason for this is that the disease is typically without symptoms until significant local and/or distant spread has occurred and is often beyond the chance for cure at the time of the diagnosis. The lack of any treatment to substantially increase long term survival rates is reflected by the poor outcomes associated with this disease, specifically time to disease progression and overall survival. However, another important part of the body is now being looked at as a target for therapy against this disease - the immune system. Scientists have clearly shown that pancreatic tumor cells produce a number of defective proteins, or express normal proteins in highly uncharacteristic ways, as part of this cancer. In some cancers, these abnormalities can cause an immune response to the cancer cells much in the way one responds to infected tissue. In progressive cancers however, the immune system fails to effectively identify or respond to these abnormalities and the cancer cells are not attacked or destroyed for reasons not yet fully understood. This clinical trial proposes a new way to stimulate the immune system to recognize pancreatic cancer cells and to stimulate an immune response that destroys or blocks the growth of the cancer. This new method of treatment helps the immune system of pancreatic cancer patients to "identify" the cancerous tissue so that it can be eliminated from the body. As an example, most people are aware that patients with certain diseases may require an organ transplant to replace a damaged kidney or heart. After receiving their transplant, these patients receive special drugs because they are at great danger of having an immune response that destroys or "rejects" the transplanted organ. This "rejection" occurs when their immune system responds to differences between the cells of the transplanted organ and their own immune system by attacking the foreign tissue in the same way as it would attack infected tissue. When the differences between foreign tissues and the patient's body are even larger, as with the differences between organs from different species, the rejection is very rapid, highly destructive, and the immunity it generates is longlasting. This is called hyperacute rejection and the medicine used to immunize patients in this protocol tries to harness this response to teach a patient's immune system to fight their pancreatic cancer just as the body would learn to reject a transplanted organ from an animal. To do this, Algenpantucel-L immunotherapy contains human pancreatic cancer cells that contain a mouse gene that marks the cancer cells as foreign to patient's immune systems. The immune system therefore attacks these cancer cells just as they would attack any truly foreign tissue, destroying as much as it can. Additionally, the immune system is stimulated to identify differences (aside from the mouse gene) between these cancer cells and normal human tissue as foreign. This "education" of the immune system helps treat the patient because pancreatic cancer cells already present in a treated patient are believed to show some of the same differences from normal tissue as the modified pancreatic cancer cells in the product. Due to these similarities, the immune system, once "educated" by the Algenpantucel-L immunotherapy, identifies the patient's cancer as foreign and attacks. The chemotherapy combination to be used in this study has been shown to improve survival in advanced pancreatic cancer and is being combined with an experimental pancreatic cancer immunotherapy that stimulates the immune system to recognize and attack the cancer. One goal of this study is to determine whether chemotherapy and immunotherapies can work cooperatively to increase anti-tumor effects to levels beyond what would be seen with either treatment alone. In this experimental study, all patients are given a strong combination of anti-tumor chemotherapies while some patients are also given injections of an immunotherapy drug consisting of two types of pancreatic cancer cells that we have modified to make them more easily recognized and attacked by the immune system. We propose to test this new treatment protocol in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer to demonstrate that treatment with the immunotherapy increases the time until the tumor progresses or increases overall survival when given in combination with the current standard of care therapy for this disease. Read Less

This randomized phase II trial studies how well giving cabozantinib-s-malate or paclitaxel works in treating patients with persistent or recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cavity cancer. Cabozantinib-s-malate may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as paclitaxel, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. It is not yet known whether cabozantinib-s-malate or paclitaxel is more effective at treating patients with persistent or recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cavity cancer. Read Less

Determine whether viagenpumatucel-L combined with low-dose cyclophosphamide prolongs survival in patients with NSCLC who failed 2 or 3 prior lines of therapy for incurable or metastatic disease compared with chemotherapy alone. Read Less

This randomized phase II trial studies how well nab-paclitaxel and bevacizumab or ipilimumab works as first-line therapy in treating patients with stage IV melanoma that cannot be removed by surgery. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as nab-paclitaxel, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Bevacizumab may stop the growth of tumor cells by binding to a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and by preventing the growth of new blood vessels that tumors need to grow. Ipilimumab blocks a substance called cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA4) on the surface of T cells and may help the immune system kill cancer cells. It is not yet known whether nab-paclitaxel and bevacizumab is more effective than ipilimumab in treating melanoma. Read Less

Phase III Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer Read Less

A study to collect survival data on patients previously enrolled in Abraxane pancreatic cancer study CA046. 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. Monoclonal antibodies such as trastuzumab can locate tumor cells and either kill them or deliver tumor-killing substances to them without harming normal cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combining paclitaxel, carboplatin, and trastuzumab in treating women who have metastatic breast cancer that overexpresses HER2. Read Less

This randomized pilot clinical trial studies topical cryotherapy (cooling hands and feet with ice bags) in reducing pain in patients with chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy or paclitaxel induced acute pain syndrome. Peripheral neuropathy is a nerve problem that causes pain, numbness, tingling, swelling, or muscle weakness in different parts of the body. Paclitaxel produces a disabling syndrome of acute aches and pains. Topical cryotherapy is being studied to see if it can help relieve pain from peripheral neuropathy or acute pain syndrome caused by chemotherapy. Read Less

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as paclitaxel and carboplatin, 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. Giving paclitaxel and carboplatin together with radiation therapy before surgery may shrink the tumor so that it can be removed. Giving chemotherapy after surgery may kill any tumor cells remaining after surgery. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving paclitaxel and carboplatin together with radiation therapy works in treating patients who are undergoing surgery for stage III non-small cell lung cancer. Read Less

This phase II trial studies how well temsirolimus, carboplatin, and paclitaxel as first-line therapy works in treating patients with newly diagnosed stage III-IV clear cell ovarian cancer. Temsirolimus may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as carboplatin and paclitaxel, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving temsirolimus with combination chemotherapy may be an effective treatment for ovarian cancer. Read Less

This randomized phase II trial studies how well erlotinib hydrochloride or crizotinib with chemoradiation therapy works in treating patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer. Radiation therapy uses high energy x rays to kill tumor cells. Specialized radiation therapy that delivers a high dose of radiation directly to the tumor may kill more tumor cells and cause less damage to normal tissue. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as cisplatin, etoposide, paclitaxel, and carboplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. It is not yet known whether giving erlotinib hydrochloride is more effective than crizotinib with chemoradiation therapy in treating patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Read Less