Active clinical trials for "Pancreatic Neoplasms"

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as mitomycin C and ifosfamide, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving mitomycin C together with ifosfamide works in treating patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

This study will assess the effectiveness and safety of pasireotide long-acting release in patients who have rare tumors of neuroendocrine origin.

This is an open multicenter randomized phase I/II study. The main purpose with this study is to investigate dose and efficacy of a combination of Irinotecan, Cetuximab and Everolimus given biweekly to patients with local advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer AFTER progression from 1. line treatment with Gemcitabine.

The purpose of this study is to determine if the combination of Gemcitabine, Oxaliplatin and Erlotinib in the treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer will provide increased clinical benefits and improvement in their quality of life.

To assess the response for subjects with pancreatic cancer that have undergone surgical resection and treatment with a vaccine given with or without chemotherapy and chemoradiation.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States, and no combination therapy is far superior to gemcitabine alone. Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor type 1 (VEGFR1) is expressed on the tumor vessels and a candidate of tumor vessel-specific peptide vaccination strategy to induce T cell immune response. We conducted the study to confirm the safety and efficacy of combined modality intervention using conventional dose of gemcitabine with peptide vaccination targeting tumor-vessel specific VEGFR1 in case of advanced/inoperable or therapy-resistant pancreatic cancer patients. Gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m^2 (body surface area) will be administered on day 1, day 8, day 15, day 29, day 36, and day 43, respectively. VEGFR1-derived HLA-A*02:01-restricted peptide (VEGFR1-A02-770; TLFWLLLTL) emulsified with Montanide ISA51 will be subcutaneously injected twice weekly for 8 weeks (total 16 doses).

RATIONALE: Pioglitazone may slow the growth of tumor cells and may be an effective treatment for pancreatic cancer. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying how well pioglitazone works as second-line therapy in treating patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer that progressed after treatment with gemcitabine.

This study is for patients with pancreatic cancer that has grown and/or spread after having previously received the standard chemotherapy drug called gemcitabine. In this study a drug called pemetrexed is being tested. This drug is approved by the FDA for use in lung cancer and mesothelioma. The purpose of this study is to see if pemetrexed keeps pancreas cancer that has grown and/or spread after gemcitabine from growing. Subjects will receive pemetrexed IV once every 21 days until disease progression or unacceptable side effects occur.

RATIONALE: 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 gemcitabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving intensity-modulated radiation therapy together with gemcitabine may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase I/II trial is studying the side effects and best dose of intensity-modulated radiation therapy and to see how well it works when given together with gemcitabine in treating patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

Background: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Surgery Branch has developed an experimental therapy for treating patients with metastatic cancer that involves taking white blood cells from the patient, growing them in the laboratory in large numbers, genetically modifying these specific cells with a type of virus (retrovirus) to attack only the tumor cells, and then giving the cells back to the patient. This type of therapy is called gene transfer. In this protocol, we are modifying the patients white blood cells with a retrovirus that has the gene for anti-mesothelin incorporated in the retrovirus. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine a safe number of these cells to infuse and to see if these tumor fighting cells (anti-mesothelin cells) cause metastatic cancer tumors to shrink. Eligibility: - Adults age 18-70 with metastatic cancer expressing the mesothelin molecule. 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-mesothelin 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-mesothelin 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 will take up to 2 days.