Active clinical trials for "Glioblastoma"

Malignant gliomas are the most common primary brain tumor in adults, but the prognosis for patients with these tumors remains poor despite advances in diagnosis and standard therapies such as surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. The advantages of ADV-TK gene therapy highlight its efficacy and safety for glioma patients. This clinical trial was conducted to assess the anti-tumor efficacy and safety of intraarterial cerebral infusion of replication-deficient adenovirus mutant ADV-TK, in combination with systemic intravenous GCV administration in patients with recurrent high-grade glioma.

RATIONALE: Vaccines made from a person's tumor cells and dendritic cells may help the body build an effective immune response to kill tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects of vaccine therapy in treating patients undergoing surgery for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

RATIONALE: Monoclonal antibodies, such as ramucirumab and anti-PDGFR alpha monoclonal antibody IMC-3G3 (Olaratumab), 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. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well ramucirumab or anti-PDGFR alpha monoclonal antibody IMC-3G3 works in treating patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme.

This phase II trial is studying how well sunitinib works in treating patients with recurrent malignant gliomas. Sunitinib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth and by blocking blood flow to the tumor.

This is a phase II study of the combination of Avastin and metronomic temozolomide in recurrent malignant glioma patients. The primary objective will be to determine the efficacy of Avastin (bevacizumab) and metronomic temozolomide in malignant glioma patients. The secondary objective will be to determine the safety of Avastin, 10 mg/kg every other week, in combination with metronomic temozolomide in terms of progression-free survival.

The purpose of this research study is to learn if your own immune cells can be activated and multiplied in order to help your body fight off the tumor cells in your brain. The safety of this procedure will also be studied. This procedure, called CMV-autologous lymphocyte transfer or CMV-ALT is investigational which means that it is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is still being tested in research studies. Autologous lymphocyte transfer or ALT means that you will receive your own immune cells back (and not from another donor) as a treatment after they have been activated and grown to large numbers in a clinical lab. It is believed that the body's immune (protection) system can attack tumor cells and kill them. Immune cells called T-lymphocytes (T-cells) can recognize special proteins on the surface of tumors as a signal to attack and fight the cancer. In most patients with advanced cancer, the immune system does not adequately destroy the tumor because the white blood cells or T-cells are not stimulated enough. Before your T-cells can become active against tumor cells, they require strong stimulation. There are special "stimulator" cells in the body called Dendritic Cells (DCs) that can take up proteins released from cancer cells and present pieces of these proteins to T lymphocytes to create this strong stimulation. Dendritic cells taken from your blood will be "pulsed" or loaded with genetic material called RNA (ribonucleic acid), which stimulates the DC to change the RNA into a protein called pp65. This protein is produced by a common virus called Cytomegalovirus (CMV) that 70-80% of us have been exposed to in our lifetime. Recently, we have found that this virus is present in many malignant brain tumors. Brain tumors are very aggressive and, for reasons we do not yet understand, are difficult for the body to attack. The CMV virus is a target in the tumor that, if attacked by your immune systems cells, may prevent your tumor from growing. We have found that we can grow immune cells to very large numbers from the blood of people who have evidence of prior exposure to this virus. You will therefore be tested to determine if you have pre-existing antibodies to this virus in order to participate in this study. We will use your DCs to activate and grow immune cells from your blood to large numbers in a clinical laboratory. These CMV-specific immune cells, called CMV-ALT, will be returned to your body when they have become activated. It is hoped that these cells will seek out and kill tumor cells that express the CMV viral protein and not attack normal cells. The transfer of immune cells that stimulates your immune system is called adoptive immunotherapy. We will evaluate two doses of immune cells in this study (Dose 1 and Dose 2). Depending on when you are enrolled in this study you will receive either Dose 1 or 2. The first six patients enrolled on this study will receive Dose 1 (the lower dose) and the next six patients will receive Dose 2 (the higher dose). We do not know at this time if either dose is more effective or safer to administer which is why we are testing both doses. Dose 2 will be a larger number of immune cells if the treatment is found to be safe in the first six patients treated during this study. In this study we will also see, in some randomly selected patients, if giving an injection of the DC pulsed with pp65 RNA into the skin improves the function of the CMV-ALT treatment or not. You will receive three injections under the skin of either some of the same DC that were used to stimulate your immune cells in the clinical laboratory or three injections of saline (salt solution) under the skin starting with the infusion of the CMV-ALT. It is unknown if a DC injection will be beneficial to the immune cells or not so the responses will be compared in patients who receive DC versus saline injection with their CMV-ALT. After these three injections, blood will be collected to compare the responses between patients that received saline to those that received DC injections.

RATIONALE: ABT-888 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. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as temozolomide, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving ABT-888 together with radiation therapy and temozolomide may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase I/II trial is studying the side effects and best dose of ABT-888 when given together with radiation therapy and temozolomide and to see how well it works in treating patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme.

The purpose of the this study is to see if an investigations cancer treatment called vorinostat can be combined with the irinotecan/bevacizumab regimen safely.

Background: In order to survive, brain tumors must have a network of blood vessels to supply it with oxygen and nutrients. The tumors produce substances that enable new blood vessels to form. Tandutinib and Bevacizumab are experimental drugs that may prevent new blood vessel formation and thereby slow or stop tumor growth in the brain. Objectives: To determine the safety and side effects of Tandutinib in combination with Bevacizumab in patients with brain tumors. To evaluate the response of brain tumors to treatment with Tandutinib and Bevacizumab. Eligibility: Patients 18 years of age and older with a malignant brain tumor for whom standard treatments (surgery, radiation and chemotherapy) are no longer effective. Design: Patients receive treatment in 4-week cycles as follows: Tandutinib by mouth twice a day every day and intravenous (through a vein) infusions of Bevacizumab over 90 minutes (or less if well tolerated) every 2 weeks. Treatment may continue for up to 1 year, and possibly longer, as long as there are no signs of tumor growth or serious treatment side effects. Patients are evaluated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) scans before starting treatment and then periodically to determine the response to treatment. Patients have physical and neurological examinations every 4 weeks and blood tests every 2 weeks. They complete quality of life questionnaires every 4 weeks.

The mechanism of action of sorafenib makes it an interesting drug to investigate in the treatment of patients with glioblastoma multiforme. Efficacy of agents with anti-angiogenic activity has already been demonstrated and the PDGF receptor target may also be pertinent in glioblastoma. The combination of temozolomide plus sorafenib has been investigated previously in the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma. The combination was generally well tolerated; in previously untreated patients, a standard dose of sorafenib (400mg PO bid) was administered with temozolomide 150mg/m2 PO daily for 5 days, repeated every 28 days (23). In this multicenter phase II study, patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma will receive standard treatment, including initial debulking surgical resection (if feasible) followed by high-dose radiation therapy with concurrent temozolomide. After completion of radiation therapy, patients will continue treatment with temozolomide (150mg/m2 days 1-5) and sorafenib (400mg PO bid daily), repeated at 28-day intervals for 6 cycles.