Active clinical trials for "Esophageal Neoplasms"

This phase I trial studies the side effects and best dose of Akt inhibitor MK2206 and lapatinib ditosylate when given together with trastuzumab in treating patients with locally advanced or metastatic human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2)-positive breast, gastric, or gastroesophageal cancer that cannot be removed by surgery. Akt inhibitor MK2206 and lapatinib ditosylate may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for tumor growth. Monoclonal antibodies, such as trastuzumab, 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. Giving Akt inhibitor MK2206 and lapatinib ditosylate together with trastuzumab may kill more tumor cells.

Esophageal cancer is one of the common malignant disease, especially in China. The annual incidence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is 260,000 with the motility of 210,000. The prognosis of esophageal cancer is very poor. About 50% of patients have advanced disease at diagnosis and the natural course is only 6-8 months with a 5-year survival rate of 5-7%. Though some patients received surgical treatment, disease will recurrent and metastasis in nearly 90% of the patients. In past decades, there isn't much improvement of the outcome and survival of advanced esophageal cancer due to the lack of effective chemotherapy agents. The traditional chemotherapy drugs include 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin and the combination of them results in a 25-35% response rate in both first-line and palliative treatment. Paclitaxel plus cisplatin regiment is another promising treatment of esophageal cancer and have been proved effective in many studies. One of our previous study showed paclitaxel and cisplatin treatment resulted in encouraging response rate with manageable side-effects in 131 patients of advanced esophageal cancer. However, the toxicities of paclitaxel and cisplatin limit their combination in clinic. For example, the polyoxyethylene castor oil paclitaxel could induce acute hypersensitivity reactions and neurotoxicity. Cisplatin could result in dysfunction of kidney and neurotoxicity. In addition, most of esophageal cancer patients are age 65 to 70. Many of them have simultaneously other diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease which cause varying damages of renal function and limit the use of cisplatin in these patients. Therefore, it is urgent for doctors to seek an alternative of cisplatin in the combination chemotherapy treatment. Therefore, the investigators designed this randomized clinical trial in which a novel combination of S-1 with paclitaxel is used to treat advanced esophageal cancer patients in compare with paclitaxel/cisplatin and 5-FU/cisplatin treatment to explore its efficacy and toxicity. The investigators hope this study will provide some clues for the treatment of esophageal cancer patients.

There is a need for more effective therapy for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who developed disease progression after first line therapy. Currently, there is no standard second-line therapy for this disease. BKM-120 is a pan-PI3K inhibitor currently tested in clinical trials. In a cellular model of oral-esophageal carcinogenesis, it has shown that EGFR overexpression activated PI3/AKT pathway. Therfore, there is interest to see the efficacy and safety of BKM120 in this setting.

This phase I pilot trial studies the side effects of cluster of differentiation 8 (CD8)+ T cells in treating patients with gastrointestinal tumors that have spread to other places in the body. Tumor cells and blood are used to help create an adoptive T cell therapy, such as CD8+ T cell therapy, that is individually designed for a patient and may help doctors learn more about genetic changes in the tumor. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Giving CD8+ T cell therapy and pembrolizumab may work better in treating patients with gastrointestinal tumors.

This study will test the safety and effectiveness of two experimental medicines - depsipeptide and flavopiridol - given together to treat cancers of the lung, esophagus, and pleura. It will determine the highest dose that these drugs can safely be given together and will test whether giving them together works better at shrinking tumors than giving either one alone. Patients 18 years of age and older with cancer of the lung, esophagus, or pleura, or other cancers that have spread to the lungs or pleura may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a medical history and physical examination, blood tests, electrocardiogram (EKG), x-rays and scans, pulmonary function tests, and a tumor biopsy (removal of a small piece of tumor tissue for microscopic examination). Participants are admitted to the hospital for treatment for approximately 10 days during each 28-day treatment cycle. Depsipeptide is infused through an arm vein or central venous catheter (tube placed in a large vein in the neck or chest) for 4 hours. When this infusion is complete, flavopiridol is infused over 72 hours. The dose of depsipeptide is increased four times over the period of the study with successive groups of patients, and flavopiridol is increased once to determine the maximum safe dose of giving these drugs together. Blood tests are done before and after each depsipeptide infusion and 3 more times for the next 24 hours, and at various times over 4 days during the flavopiridol infusion to evaluate the effects of the medicines. Samples are also drawn periodically throughout the treatment cycle to evaluate safety. Heart function is monitored with several EKGs before and during the depsipeptide doses. The drug has shown effects on EKG tracings, but does not appear to injure the heart muscle. Tumor biopsies are done before treatment begins and on the fifth day of the first treatment cycle. The biopsies may be done either in the operating room by passing a tube (bronchoscope) down the throat and into the lungs or in the Radiology Department using a thin needle put through the chest wall into the tumor. For the bronchoscopy, numbing medicine is sprayed into the back of the throat to reduce discomfort, and for the needle biopsy, the skin over the biopsy area is numbed. Optional repeat biopsies may be requested before the start of the second treatment cycle and on day 5 of that cycle. (The repeat biopsies are not required for participation in the study.) At the time of each tumor biopsy, a buccal mucosal biopsy is also done. This involves scraping a tongue depressor along the inside of the mouth to collect cells for examination. At the end of the first treatment cycle, patients return to NIH for evaluation with a physical examination, blood work, x-rays, and scans of the chest, abdomen, pelvis, and brain. Patients who are not experiencing significant drug side effects are offered a second cycle, exactly like the first. The two cycles complete one course of treatment, after which patients once again return to NIH for evaluation. Additional treatment cycles may be offered to patients whose tumors have shrunk or remained stable with therapy. Patients whose tumors have not responded to therapy or who have developed severe drug side effects are taken off the study.

RATIONALE: Vaccines may make the body build an immune response to kill tumor cells. PURPOSE: Randomized phase II trial to compare the effectiveness of two different vaccines in treating patients who have cancer of the gastrointestinal tract.

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. Giving chemotherapy drugs and radiation therapy before surgery may shrink the tumor so that it can be removed during surgery. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy plus radiation therapy given before surgery in treating patients who have stage I, stage II, or stage III esophageal cancer.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Interferon alfa may interfere with the growth of cancer cells. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Combining more than one drug and combining chemotherapy with interferon alfa, surgery, and/or radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy and interferon alfa followed by surgery and/or radiation therapy in treating patients who have stage I, stage II, or stage III esophageal cancer.

Aim 1: To develop a prospective tissue and blood biorepository from patients with a history of Barrett's Esophagus (BE) or esophageal cancer (ECA) presenting to UNC hospitals for routine care upper endoscopy for their condition. Aim 2: To collect clinical data from patients with a history of Barrett's Esophagus (BE) or esophageal cancer (ECA) that includes demographic data, endoscopic procedure data, and pathology data. Aim 3: To integrate Aim 1 and 2 in a manner that will provide an efficient bi-directional flow of clinical information and specimens between laboratory and clinical scientists in order to foster innovative translational research. Aim 4: To create a biorepository for future Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved studies that have tissue and/or blood specimen component.

The purpose of this study is to find out whether treatment with trastuzumab combined with pembrolizumab will improve the clearance of tumor DNA from participants' bodies after surgery.