Active clinical trials for "Pancreatic Neoplasms"

The goal of this clinical research study is to find the highest tolerable dose of BikDD nanoparticle that can be given to patients with advanced cancer of the pancreas. The safety of this drug will also be studied.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as fluorouracil, leucovorin calcium, irinotecan hydrochloride, and oxaliplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Monoclonal antibodies, such as ganitumab, can block tumor growth in different ways. Some block the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Others find tumor cells and help kill them or carry cancer-killing substances to them. It is not yet known whether giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) is more effective with or without ganitumab in treating patients with pancreatic cancer. PURPOSE: This phase I/II trial is studying the best dose of combination chemotherapy and ganitumab and how well combination chemotherapy with or without ganitumab works in treating patients with previously untreated metastatic pancreatic cancer.

The purpose of this study is to determine if it is safe to add multiple immunotherapies to standard chemotherapy and radiation for treating pancreatic cancer tumors that cannot be completely removed by surgery. GI-4000 Vaccination: The first involves a "vaccine," which is an injection (shot) that teaches your immune system to attack foreign invaders. The vaccine we will use is called "GI-4000" - a vaccine composed of yeast that is made to carry the same proteins (called "mutated Ras proteins") found in some pancreatic cancer cells. Adoptive T-cell Transfer: The second type of immunotherapy in this study is called "adoptive T-cell transfer." This involves collecting a specific type of white blood cells from you (called "T-cells")and growing T-cells grown in a lab which may help the research participants' immune systems recover more quickly after chemotherapy, and possibly improved response to other immunotherapies. We hope that studying these agents together will teach us how to help the immune system fight pancreatic cancer.

GAX represents a novel approach to the development of cancer chemotherapy agents in pancreatic cancer and is based upon extensive laboratory investigations for the induction of apoptosis in pancreatic carcinoma cells.

Introduction: Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive malignancies with only 5% of patients being alive at five years. EUS (endoscopic ultra sound) is an established, sensitive diagnostic tool in pancreatic cancer and for staging purposes. Additionally, EUS enables guided fine needle aspiration (FNA), which is currently recommended as the first-line procedure whenever a pathological diagnosis is required. However, EUS-FNA as a sampling method has its drawbacks, due to a relatively low negative predictive value. Confocal laser endomicroscopy has emerged in recent years as a novel method that enables in vivo microscopic analysis during ongoing endoscopy. Recently, confocal laser endomicroscopy has gone beyond the superficial luminal indications with the development of a new microprobe, i.e. a flexible laser probe (nCLE) that can pass through a 19-gauge needle. Combined with EUS, descriptive criteria for the diagnosis of pancreatic cystic neoplasm has been developed in a multicentre trial. However, only a limited number of cases of solid pancreatic masses have been described with nCLE. Aim and Method: To describe confocal imaging criteria for pancreatic masses, lymph nodes or liver metastases identified during EUS procedures performed for pancreatic cancer staging (EUS-nCLE), while evaluating also the feasibility and safety of nCLE examination. The hypothesis is that EUS-nCLE could allow targeted tissue sampling of pancreatic lesions resulting in more accurate diagnosis. XX patients were included all presenting with a clinical suspicion of pancreatic cancer or imaging studies showing a pancreatic mass. During the procedure an nCLE preloaded 19G FNA needle was advanced into the lesion under EUS guidance. A contrast agent was administered intravenously (2.5 ml fluorescein 10%). The data was stored digitally for post procedural analysis. Afterwards EUS-FNA was performed for cytology smears to enable a final pathological diagnosis. Correlations between the nCLE images and the conventional pathology were identified.

This randomized clinical trial studies metformin hydrochloride in treating patients with pancreatic cancer that can be removed by surgery. Metformin hydrochloride may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth.

The purposes of this study are to: Evaluate the safety and toxicity of tolfenamic acid when used with gemcitabine and radiation therapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer. Determine the maximum-tolerated dose (MTD) of tolfenamic acid when used with gemcitabine and radiation in pancreatic cancer. Characterize the pharmacokinetic profile of tolfenamic acid when used with gemcitabine and radiation. Assess the anti-tumor response to tolfenamic acid when used with gemcitabine and radiation in patients with advanced pancreatic malignancies.

The physical and biological properties of the carbon ion beam promise to improve the therapeutic ratio in patients with pancreatic cancer: Due to the inverted dose profile dose deposition in the entry channel of the beam leads to sparing of normal tissue; the Bragg peak can be directed into the defined target volume, and the sharp dose fall-off thereafter again spares normal tissue behind the target volume. The higher RBE of carbon ions, which has been shown also for pancreatic cancer cell lines in the preclinical setting, is likely to contribute to an increase in local control, and perhaps in OS. Early data from Japanese centers have shown convincing results. The PHOENIX-01 trial is the first trial to evaluate actively delivered carbon ion beams in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer within a dose-escalation strategy.

The negative predictive value of fine needle aspiration under ultrasound endoscopy (EUS) for the diagnostic of solid pancreatic masses is 70% on average in the current literature with 22 gauge needles. There is a wide variability of this rate across studies (from 38 to 92%). In case of negativity of the biopsy, the risk of missing a pancreatic cancer whose prognosis is severe and extensive treatment, remains important. To improve the sensitivity of EUS echo endoscopy, several methods were used. A new needle (Echo Tip ® HD ProCore ™) has received CE Mark in the field of EUS. This instrument combines the comfortable and handy size of 22 Gauge and innovative design (window lateralized bevel) with in vitro studies obtaining core biopsy. In addition, a single pass through the tumor is achieved with this hand against several (2-3 minimum) with the current hardware. The theoretical goal is to have a tissue material more abundant during the sampling, without increasing morbidity and increase the diagnostic accuracy. A preliminary prospective study with this material has shown interesting results (increase the diagnostic accuracy of 15%). To determine the diagnostic gain with this new hand, it seemed essential to propose a prospective comparative study (22 gauge needle ProCore ™ versus the old EchoTip ® 22-Gauge) randomized (randomization of the order of the needles) in crossover (on the same lesion) in samples of pancreatic solid tumors. The caliber of 22 gauge is the gauge most often used for punctures under ultrasound endoscopy, resulting in less morbidity. Puncture by the 2 needles on the same injury can limit the effect of variability between patients and thereby have a better power for the investigators study without increasing the risk of complications (the needle ProCore ™ does not require that one pass through the tumor). The study of pancreatic solid tumors is one that poses the biggest diagnostic problem still present in the investigators daily practice. The aim of this study is to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the needle ProCore™ versus EchoTip® in etiological cyto histological diagnostic for pancreatic solid tumors under EUS.

The purpose of this study is to find out if giving patients bevacizumab along with the chemotherapy drugs oxaliplatin and gemcitabine will improve overall survival. In addition, the study will find out what side effects patients may have by taking bevacizumab, oxaliplatin, and gemcitabine together.