Active clinical trials for "Carcinoma"

Study to compare the safety and efficacy of oregovomab versus placebo, administered in combination with specific cycles of a standard six-cycle chemotherapy regimen (paclitaxel and carboplatin), for the treatment of subjects with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer who have undergone optimal debulking.

This phase II trial studies genetic and molecular mechanisms in assessing response in patients with prostate cancer receiving enzalutamide therapy. Androgens can cause the growth of prostate cancer cells. Antihormone therapy, such as enzalutamide, may lessen the amount of androgens made by the body. Studying samples of tissue and blood in the laboratory from patients with prostate cancer may help doctors better understand castration-resistant prostate cancer. It may also help doctors make improvements in prostate cancer treatment.

This pilot clinical trial studies the safety and immunogenicity of vaccine therapy in treating patients with stage IIIC-IV ovarian epithelial, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cavity cancer following surgery and chemotherapy. Vaccines made from a person's peptide treated white blood cells may help the body build an effective immune response to kill tumor cells.

This is a double-blind study in which approximately 99 study patients will be randomized in a 2:1 ratio to receive either AVOVA-1 or MC. Patients eligible for randomization and treatment will be those (1) who have undergone debulking surgery, (2) for whom a cell line has been established, (3) who have undergone leukapheresis from which sufficient PMBC were obtained, and (4) have an ECOG performance grade of 0 or 1 (Karnofsky score of 70-100%). The primary endpoint of this trial is death from any cause with the metric of OS from the date of randomization. PFS will be a secondary endpoint and will be calculated as the time from the date of randomization for treatment until subjective tumor progression or death. Progression will be subjectively defined by the treating physician, and is expected to be based on tumor marker levels (e.g. CA-125) and/or imaging. Secondarily, we will also define PFS and OS from the date of debulking surgery. Patients will be stratified into (1) no evidence of disease (NED) (no measurable or non-measurable disease per RECIST and normal CA-125 levels) or (2) non-NED (measurable or non-measurable disease per RECIST or elevated CA-125 levels).

The study is being conducted to determine whether neoadjuvant endocrine therapy with fulvestrant or the combination of anastrozole and fulvestrant, is better than anastrozole when given before surgery to shrink the cancer and stop it from growing. Anastrozole inhibits tumor growth by reducing the levels of estrogen and has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States for use after surgery for postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. It is also considered a standard of care to give anastrozole for a few months before surgery to shrink the tumor. Fulvestrant inhibits tumor cell growth by reducing the levels of estrogen receptor in the tumor cell. It is not approved by the FDA for use in women with early stage breast cancer before or after surgery, but is approved by the FDA for patients with advanced (Stage 4) estrogen receptor positive breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.

Patients have nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This study is a gene transfer research study using special immune cells. Most patients with NPC show evidence of infection with the virus that causes infectious mononucleosis Epstein Barr virus (EBV) before or at the time of their diagnosis. EBV is found in the cancer cells of almost all patients with advanced stage NPC, suggesting that it may play a role in causing the disease. The cancer cells infected by EBV are able to hide from the body's immune system and escape destruction. We want to see if special white blood cells, called T cells, that have been trained to recognize and kill special parts of EBV infected cells can survive in patient's blood and affect the tumor. We already have given EBV-specific cytotoxic T cells to 30 patients with active NPC and have seen anti-tumor activity in 14 of 30 patients. We are now trying to find out if we can improve this treatment. First, we want to give T cells where more of the cells recognize at least two of the four EBV proteins expressed on NPC cells. We call these cells NPC-specific cytotoxic T cells. Second, we found that T cells work better if we add a receptor to the T cells called DNR (Dominant Negative Receptor). DNR makes T cells resistant to TGFbeta, a factor secreted by cancer cells that helps them escape being killed by the immune system. In this study we will therefore place the DNR gene into NPC-specific T cells (DNR.NPC-specific T cells). In other clinical studies using T cells, some investigators found that giving chemotherapy before the T cell infusion can improve the amount of time the T cells stay in the body and therefore the effect the T cells can have. Giving chemotherapy before a T cell infusion is called lymphodepletion since the chemotherapy is specifically chosen to decrease the number of lymphocytes in the body. Decreasing the number of patient's lymphocytes first should allow the T cells we infuse to expand and stay longer in their body, and potentially kill cancer cells more effectively. The chemotherapy we will use for lymphodepletion is a combination of cyclophosphamide and fludarabine. Cyclophosphamide and fludarabine are the chemotherapy agents most commonly used for lymphodepletion in immunotherapy clinical trials.

This randomized phase II/III trial studies the side effects and how well intensity-modulated proton beam therapy works and compares it to intensity-modulated photon therapy in treating patients with stage III-IVB oropharyngeal cancer. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays, protons, and other types of radiation to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. It is not yet known whether intensity-modulated proton beam therapy is more effective than intensity-modulated photon therapy in treating oropharyngeal cancer.

The purpose of this study is to see if a three method risk adapted design using induction chemotherapy, transoral surgery and radiation chemotherapy will lessen toxic effects and make treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) better.

The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that 1)intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) or proton radiation therapy would result in improved local control rate and lowered toxicity compared to conventional radiotherapy, and 2) proton radiation therapy would result in equivalent or improved local control rate with similar or lower toxicity compared to IMRT, in the treatment of locally advanced sinonasal malignancy. Data from retrospective studies suggest that IMRT or proton radiation therapy resulted in promising outcome in patients with sinonasal malignancy. To this date, no prospective study has been conducted to evaluate the outcome of sinonasal cancer treated with IMRT or proton radiation therapy. This Phase II trial is the first prospective study conducted to determine the treatment outcome and toxicity of IMRT or proton in the treatment of sinonasal cancer. IMRT and proton radiation therapy are the two most established and most commonly employed advanced radiotherapy techniques for the treatment of sinonasal cancer. It is highly controversial whether one is superior to the other in terms of local control and toxicity outcome. It is also not clear if a subset of patients would benefit more from one treatment technology versus the other. Due to the rarity and heterogeneity of sinonasal malignancies and the fact that proton beam is only available at a few centers in the United States, it is not feasible at present to do a Phase III study randomizing patients between IMRT and proton radiation therapy. In this study, a planned secondary analysis will be performed, comparing the treatment and toxicity outcome between IMRT and proton. The data on the IMRT and proton comparison from this trial will be used to design future multi-center prospective trials and to determine if randomized trial is necessary. In this study, the treatment technique employed for an individual case will not be determined by the treating physician(s), but rather by the most advanced technology available at the treating institution for the treatment of the sinonasal cancer. At the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), proton beam therapy will be used for patients who meet the eligibility criteria. For institutions where protons are not available or institutions where the proton planning systems have not been optimized, IMRT exclusively will be used for the treatment of sinonasal cancer. Patient and tumor characteristics are expected to be comparable between IMRT- and proton- institutions

This phase I trial studies the side effects and best dose of cabozantinib S-malate in treating younger patients with solid tumors that have come back or no longer respond to treatment. Cabozantinib S-malate may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth.