Active clinical trials for "Colonic Neoplasms"

This randomized phase III trial is studying giving irinotecan and cetuximab together with bevacizumab to see how well it works compared with giving irinotecan and cetuximab alone in treating patients with metastatic colorectal cancer that progressed during first-line therapy. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as irinotecan, 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 cetuximab and 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. Bevacizumab may also stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking blood flow to the tumor. It is not yet known whether irinotecan and cetuximab are more effective with or without bevacizumab in treating metastatic colorectal cancer.

There are more than 140,000 new cases of colon cancer diagnosed each year, and over 60,000 Americans die from colon cancer annually. To date, surgical resection remains the mainstay of treatment for colon cancer. However, between 35% and 45% of patients, despite colon surgery, retain unseen tumor cells in the bloodstream or in small clumps in the liver or other tissues. It is for this reason that postoperative chemotherapy (anti-tumor drugs) is recommended and given to some patients after surgery. Conventional chemotherapy is usually started no earlier than 4 to 6 weeks after the colon cancer has been resected. Despite surgery and conventional chemotherapy, a significant number of patients develop cancer recurrences and many go on to die from the cancer. For this reason, investigators continue to look for new cancer treatments and approaches. The study under consideration proposes to give colon cancer patients an anti-cancer therapy for 3 weeks before and for 3 weeks after undergoing operation to remove the colon cancer. This time period is referred to as the "perioperative period." Presently, around the world, doctors do not administer any type of anti-cancer therapy during the perioperative period. It is the belief of the investigators carrying out this study that this period may be an ideal time to fight the tumor and that treatment given during this time may improve survival and reduce cancer recurrence rates. Patients who choose to receive this biologic anti-cancer treatment immediately before and after surgery can also receive conventional chemotherapy at the usual time (4-6 weeks after surgery). Thus, this perioperative anti-cancer treatment would not interfere with the standard chemotherapy regimens used today. The drug that is to be given in this study is called Cetuximab (also known as "Erbitux"). This is an anti-cancer drug which has already been approved by the FDA for use in patients who have colon cancer. This drug, like all of the other anti-cancer drugs used for treating colon cancer, has been given either well after surgery or to patients with very advanced disease who have not undergo surgery. What is unique about the St. Luke's Roosevelt study is that the drug will be given during the 3 weeks before surgery and for the first 3 weeks after the colon resection surgery. To summarize, Cetuximab is a humanized antibody to EGFR which has been shown to be effective in killing tumor cells in patients with colon cancer. In this study the Cetuximab is to be given 1) after the surgery, 2) immediately before the operation, or 3) both before and after surgery. Entry into the study means that the operation may be delayed for at least 3 weeks in order for the drug to be given. Since many patients who do not participate in any research studies wait at least that long for surgery this does not constitute a delay. The drug has a safety profile and has been well tolerated, in general. However, since thus far it has not been given in the weeks immediately prior to or immediately after major surgery there is no safety profile for this drug during the perioperative period. The primary goals of this preliminary study are to establish the safety of Cetuximab in the perioperative period and to demonstrate that the preoperative doses have an actual impact on the tumor cells themselves.

This randomized phase I trial studies the side effects, best way to give, and best dose of docetaxel when given together with vaccine therapy and sargramostim in treating patients with metastatic lung cancer or metastatic colorectal cancer. Vaccines may make the body build an immune response to kill tumor cells. Colony-stimulating factors such as sargramostim increase the number of immune cells found in bone marrow and peripheral blood. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as docetaxel, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining vaccine therapy and sargramostim with docetaxel may kill more tumor cells.

MEK is a critical member of the MAPK pathway involved in growth and survival of cancer cells. PD-325901 is a new drug designed to block this pathway and kill cancer cells. The purpose of this study is to study the effectiveness of PD-325901 in patients with colon cancer, breast cancer, and melanoma. PD-325901 will be given by mouth as a pill twice a day, CT scans will be done and biopsies will be taken of a tumor before and once during treatment to measure the effects of the drug. Blood samples will be taken to measure the amount of drug in the blood.

In this study, a randomized controlled trial was conducted on advanced colon cancer patients with preoperative tumor staging T1-4/N1-2/M0 or T4/N0/M0 to determine the effectiveness of preoperative short-term radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy and whether it can effectively reduce the postoperative local recurrence rate, so as to provide better treatment for colon cancer patients and improve the oncological treatment effect of colon cancer.

The primary objective is to assess and characterize the antitumor activity and safety and tolerability of adjuvant treatment with an individualized neoantigen vaccine called GRT-C901/GRT-R902 (chimpanzee adenovirus [ChAd] and self-amplifying messenger RNA [samRNA] vectors), in combination with checkpoint inhibitors. Antitumor activity will be based on molecular response in patients with colon cancer who have circulating tumor deoxyribonucleic acid (ctDNA) following surgical resection.

This phase I trial studies the side effects and best dose of irinotecan-eluting beads in treating patients with colon or rectal cancer that has spread to the liver and does not respond to treatment with standard therapy. Irinotecan-eluting beads are tiny beads that have been loaded with irinotecan hydrochloride, a chemotherapy drug. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as irinotecan hydrochloride, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or stopping them from dividing. This treatment delivers the chemotherapy directly to the tumor area inside the liver instead of to the whole body as with systemic delivery of the drug. Irinotecan-eluting beads may work better that standard chemotherapy in treating patients with colon or rectal cancer that has spread to the liver.

This phase II trial studies how well capecitabine and celecoxib with or without radiation therapy works in treating patients with colorectal cancer that is newly diagnosed or has been previously treated with fluorouracil, and has spread to other parts of the body (metastatic). Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as capecitabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Celecoxib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Giving capecitabine and celecoxib together with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells.

There is now overwhelming evidence documenting the efficacy of psychotherapy in the treatment of depression in the general population. Surprisingly, however, given the high prevalence of depression in cancer patients, there are very few studies on the efficacy of psychotherapy in this population. Published studies of psychotherapy in cancer patients generally include patients with high heterogeneity of psychiatric diagnosis and frequently include patients without a psychiatric diagnosis, with the aim of preventing the appearance of a psychiatric disorder. This heterogeneity complicates the interpretation of the efficacy and specificity of these interventions. Specifically, the efficacy of psychotherapy for major depression in patients with cancer is unknown.

Background: Drugs given to treat cancer (chemotherapy) can weaken the human immune system. But it can also become weaker because of aging. Interleukin (IL)-7, a molecule produced naturally in the body, can help improve the function of the immune system. Researchers want to study the effects of IL-7 on immune system function in two different groups of older people. One group will be people who have received vaccines before IL-7. The other group will be people who have received Vaccines after IL-7. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of IL-7 on the immune system responses to vaccines in older people following chemotherapy. Eligibility: People at least 60 years of age who have recently finished chemotherapy for breast, colon, or bladder cancer. Design: People in the study will be screened with a physical examination, medical history, and blood tests. Other screening tests, such as tumor imaging, may also need to be performed. Everyone will receive a series of five different vaccines commonly used to prevent diseases. We will compare the responses of people in Sequence 1 who will receive vaccines before IL-7 with the responses of people in Sequence 2 who received the same vaccines after IL-7. The vaccines will be given randomly in two Arms at different times. Arm 1: diphtheria and tetanus, polio, pneumonia (with two booster shots), hepatitis B (with two booster shots), and hepatitis A (with one booster shot), Arm 2: hepatitis A (with one booster shot), hepatitis B (with two booster shots), pneumococcal (with two booster shots), diphtheria and tetanus, polio, pneumonia (with two booster shots) There are 5 vaccines to be given to each subject, following one of two randomly assigned sequences of vaccine administration (Sequence 1 or Sequence 2). The first vaccine arm contains the two diphtheria protein containing vaccines tetanus and diphtheria (Td) and pneumococcal conjugate 13 (PCV13) and polio. The second vaccine arm contains the Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B vaccines. Subjects will either get tetanus, diphtheria, polio, and pneumonia vaccines before IL-7 therapy (Sequence 1) or hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccines before IL-7 therapy (Sequence 2). The response to vaccines will be evaluated 4 weeks after vaccination. This will be followed by IL-7 therapy, then administration of the other group of vaccines. Therefore, subjects on both arms will receive the same set of vaccines, just at different times with respect to IL-7 therapy.