Active clinical trials for "Central Nervous System Neoplasms"

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use 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. Combining radiation therapy with chemotherapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of etoposide plus radiation therapy followed by combination chemotherapy in treating children with newly diagnosed advanced medulloblastoma.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use 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. Combining more than one drug with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy plus radiation therapy in treating patients who have newly diagnosed anaplastic astrocytoma.

RATIONALE: Boron neutron capture therapy may selectively kill tumor cells without harming normal tissue. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of boron neutron capture therapy following surgery in treating patients with glioblastoma multiforme removed during surgery.

RATIONALE: Inserting the gene for adenovirus p53 into a person's tumor may improve the body's ability to fight cancer. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of gene therapy in treating patients who have recurrent malignant gliomas.

RATIONALE: Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. It is not yet known whether radiation therapy combined with chemotherapy is more effective than radiation therapy alone in treating patients with low-grade glioma. PURPOSE: Phase II/III trial to evaluate observation and to compare the effectiveness of radiation therapy with or without combination chemotherapy in treating patients with low-grade glioma.

Radiotherapy involves the use of high-energy X-rays, which can be used to stop the growth of tumor cells. Radiotherapy constitutes an essential avenue in the treatment of brain tumors. The modern techniques of radiotherapy involve radiation planning techniques guided by computer algorithms aimed to deliver high doses of radiation to the areas of brain with tumors and limit the doses to surrounding normal structures. Artificial intelligence uses advanced analytical processes aided by computational analysis, which can be undertaken on the medical images, and radiation planning process. We plan to use artificial intelligence techniques to automatically delineate areas of the brain with tumor and other normal structures as identified from images. Also, we will use artificial intelligence on the radiation dose images and other images done for radiation treatment to classify tumors with good or bad prognoses, identify patients developing radiation complications, and detect responses after treatment.

This phase I/II trial studies the side effects and best dose of talazoparib and temozolomide and to see how well they work in treating younger patients with tumors that have not responded to previous treatment (refractory) or have come back (recurrent). Talazoparib may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as temozolomide, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Giving talazoparib together with temozolomide may work better in treating younger patients with refractory or recurrent malignancies.

This randomized phase II trial studies how well giving temozolomide and irinotecan hydrochloride together with or without bevacizumab works in treating young patients with recurrent or refractory medulloblastoma or central nervous system (CNS) primitive neuroectodermal tumors. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as temozolomide and irinotecan hydrochloride, 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. Monoclonal antibodies, such as bevacizumab, 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 tumor-killing substances to them. It is not yet known whether temozolomide and irinotecan hydrochloride are more effective with or without bevacizumab in treating medulloblastoma or CNS primitive neuroectodermal tumors.

RATIONALE : IMA 950 is multi tumour-associated peptides (TUMAPs) vaccine, these peptides have been identified on primary glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells. Poly-ICLC is a potent vaccine adjuvant with broad innate and adaptive immune enhancing effects. IMA 950 and Poly-ICLC will be administered to patients alongside standard primary therapy for glioblastoma. This includes the alkylating drug temozolomide (TMZ). Effective vaccine-induced immune responses associated with prolonged survival have been observed in glioblastoma patients during TMZ adjuvant therapy, suggesting a possible synergistic effect. A second component of glioblastoma standard treatment is external beam irradiation of the tumor site post-surgery. As a side effect, potentially beneficial tumor-infiltrating immune cells may also be killed by radiation. However, the combination of radiation with immunotherapy has been suggested to be favorable both in pre-clinical models.

This study will assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of pomalidomide in children and young adults aged 1 to < 21 years with recurrent or progressive primary brain tumors in one of four primary brain tumor types: high-grade glioma (HGG), medulloblastoma, ependymoma and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG).