Active clinical trials for "Chordoma"

The purpose of this study is to collect and store tumor tissue, blood, and bone marrow samples from patients with soft tissue sarcoma that will be tested in the laboratory. Collecting and storing samples of tumor tissue, blood, and bone marrow from patients to test in the laboratory may help the study of cancer.

RATIONALE: Polyvinylpyrrolidone-sodium hyaluronate gel may lessen the pain of oral mucositis, or mouth sores, in patients undergoing treatment for cancer. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how well polyvinylpyrrolidone-sodium hyaluronate gel works in reducing pain from oral mucositis in young patients with cancer.

Chordomas are very rare malignant tumors, chemo-resistant with high propensity for recurrence. The role of immunotherapy in these patients remains largely unexplored while PD-L1 and CD8 status in the micro-environment of chordomas is basically not known. Similarly, this tumor often poses diagnostic difficulties due to its resemblance with metastasis or chondrosarcoma, thus, it would be useful to know the expression status of factors used during the work-up of metastatic or mesenchymal tumors, like CDX2, INSM1 and FOXA1, which remains unknown for chordomas. Thus, the aim of the study is to explore PD-L1, CD8, CDX2, INSM1 and FOXA1 expression in a series of chordomas and compare it with clinico-pathological and prognostic features.

This pilot study, conducted by the National Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts General Hospital, will investigate genetic factors that contribute to the development of chordoma in people from some families. Chordoma is a very rare, potentially fatal, slow-growing bone tumor derived from remnants of embryonic material. This study will determine the feasibility of conducting a larger study aimed at identifying new families with multiple members affected by chordoma to study the genetic basis of the disease. English-speaking persons diagnosed with chordoma when they were 18 years of age or younger and who were treated at the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Radiation Oncology between 1988 and the end of the study period may be eligible for this protocol. The age range of these patients is currently from about 5 months to 33 years. Patients (or parents of minor patients) will be mailed a packet with instructions for completing the following procedures at home: Provide permission for researchers to obtain medical records relating to the patient's chordoma and any other serious medical conditions he or she has had, and to obtain a piece of the patient's stored tumor tissue. Complete a questionnaire about the patient's close blood relatives, including parents, brothers, sisters, and any more distant relatives who have had chordoma or a cancer or tumor which started in the brain or spine. The questionnaire will also include demographic information, such as education, marital status, ethnicity, religion, and household income. Collect two samples of cheek cells (only from patients 6 years and older). Patients' packets include instructions and materials for collecting the cells. Parents of children 6 to 9 years old will collect cells from the child's mouth using a sterile soft-bristled brush contained in a tube. They will brush the inside of the child's cheek with the brush for about 30 seconds and then place the brush back in the tube. They will repeat this procedure with a second brush. Patients 10 years of age and older will rinse their mouth for about 45 seconds with a mouthwash provided in their packets and then spit the mouthwash into a collection container. They will repeat the procedure several hours later. All participants will return the signed permission forms, questionnaires, and cheek cell samples to the researchers in a pre-addressed stamped envelope, which is also provided in the packet. ...

Forty patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, osteosarcoma, soft tissue sarcoma, and breast cancer will receive DeltaRex-G intravenously at a dose of 1-4 x 10e11 colony forming units (cfu) or equivalent 0.6-1.8 x 10e10 RV copies per dose one to three times a week. DeltaRex-G may or may not be given with one or more FDA approved cancer therapies/immunotherapies. Based on previous Phase 1/2 US based clinical studies, DeltaRex-G does not suppress the bone marrow or cause serious organ dysfunction, and enhanced immune cell trafficking in tumors may cause the tumors to appear larger or new lesions to appear on CT, PET or MRI. Further, tumor stabilization/regression/remission may occur later during the treatment period. Therefore, DeltaRex-G will be continued regardless of CT, PET or MRI results if the patient has clinical benefit and does not have symptomatic disease progression.

Chordoma is an uncommon (400 case/year in the U.S.) and potentially fatal bone tumor derived from remnants of embryonic notochord. It occurs primarily in the axial skeleton and has a mean age at diagnosis of 55 years, with a range from early childhood to over 70 years. This tumor usually presents at an advanced stage and the associated mortality is high due to local destruction and distant metastases. Chordoma is rare in African-Americans and is typically sporadic; there are few reports of these tumors arising congenitally or within members of the same family. Recently, we have identified and studied one large family in which 10 relatives in three generations have chordoma; the inheritance pattern suggests transmission of a mutation in an autosomal dominant gene. Using information from this family, we have tentatively napped this gene to the long arm of chromosome 7. To confirm this finding, and to fine map and clone the gene, we need to study additional chordoma families. In an effort to identify such families, we have developed collaborations with four SEER registries covering the populations of Detroit, Los Angeles, Iowa, and New Mexico. Each registry will identify all chordoma cases diagnosed since 1988 and invite them (or the next of kin of deceased cases) to participate in our study. Through 1997, the registries have identified a total of 140 chordoma cases, 96 of whom are living. The registries will invite these patients (or their next of kin) to participate in the study. The study components include completion of a self-administered personal and family medical history questionnaire, retrieval of medical records and pathology reports pertaining to chordoma, and collection of paraffin-embedded chordoma tissue and buccal mucosal cells for genetic studies. NCI will carry out all the data collection activities for the study subjects identified through the Detroit registry. NCI will also conduct the buccal cell collection component of the study for all patients identified by the other three registries. These three registries will carry out all other study activities on these patients/next of kin and will send the data and slides prepared from the paraffin blocks to NCI. NCI will analyze the questionnaire data to determine if any unusual patterns of cancers other than chordoma or other medical conditions appear to cluster in families of the chordoma patients. Selected members of any families with two or more relatives with chordoma will be invited to participate in a separate clinical and molecular study conducted at NIH to try to identify the chordoma gene. DNA from the buccal cells and tumor blocks from all other patients with "sporadic" chordoma identified through the registries (likely to comprise most patients) will not be studied until we or others have identified such a gene.

This research trial studies genes in tissue samples from younger and adolescent patients with soft tissue sarcomas. Studying samples of tumor tissue from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer. It may also help doctors find better ways to treat cancer

Patients with a diagnosis listed under "conditions" below are eligible to be considered for the EAP. These conditions must be serious or life-threatening at the time of enrollment and appropriate, comparable, or satisfactory alternative treatments must have been tried without clinical success. Patients with conditions not listed under "conditions" below are not eligible for the tazemetostat EAP.