Active clinical trials for "Myelodysplastic Syndromes"

Study outline: Deferasirox (Exjade®) is regularly used in severe iron overload in order to avoid organ damage of liver, heart and other organs. It has been proposed, that iron overload may not only impose damage to other organs but also to the bone marrow and thus worsen hematopoietic insufficiency in patients with MDS. Patients presenting with low or INT-1 risk MDS with only mild iron overload will be treated with deferasirox in this study. It will be analyzed if hematological improvement can be observed during this treatment.

This is a Phase I trial for patients with intermediate or high risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The study agent, clofarabine, is produced by Genzyme Pharmaceuticals.

RATIONALE: Giving low doses of chemotherapy and total-body irradiation before a donor umbilical cord blood transplant helps stop the growth of cancer or abnormal cells. It may also stop the patient's immune system from rejecting the donor's stem cells. The donated stem cells may replace the patient's immune cells and help destroy any remaining cancer cells (graft-versus-tumor effect). Sometimes the transplanted cells from a donor can also make an immune response against the body's normal cells. Giving cyclosporine and mycophenolate mofetil before and after transplant may stop this from happening. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well donor umbilical cord blood transplant with reduced intensity conditioning works in treating patients with advanced hematological cancer or other disease.

This is a phase II study of lenalidomide in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with trilineage dysplasia. Patients will receive two cycles of lenalidomide. Patients who respond may given additional cycles of lenalidomide until disease progression.

Primary aim: To determine the immunologic response, using a PR1-HLA-A2 tetramer assay, to 4 subcutaneous (SQ) injections of TVC-PR1 vaccine formulated in Montanide ISA 51 VG followed by granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in low risk and intermediate-1 myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients. Secondary aims: To determine if non-immunologic responders to 4 subcutaneous (SQ) injections of TVCPR1 vaccine formulated in Montanide ISA 51 VG followed by GM-CSF can be converted to immunologic responders by administering 4 additional doses of TVC-PR1 vaccine formulated in Montanide ISA 51 VG followed by GM-CSF. To determine the clinical response to 4 or 8 subcutaneous (SQ) injections of TVC-PR1 vaccine formulated in Montanide ISA 51 VG followed by GM-CSF in patients low risk and intermediate-1 MDS.

The goal of this clinical research study is to learn if LBH589 can help to control lower-risk (low or intermediate-1 risk) MDS. The safety of this drug will also be studied.

This research is being done to learn more about reduced-intensity bone marrow transplantation (BMT), also known as a "mini" transplant for patients with blood cancers, using bone marrow from a relative. The main goal of the study is to determine how quickly the donor's bone marrow "takes" in your body. Other goals include describing how many people accept the bone marrow and how quickly the blood counts come up; describing Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and other complications; and describing how many people survive without progressive cancer and survive overall

This phase II trial is studying how well rituximab works in preventing acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in patients undergoing a donor stem cell transplant for hematologic cancer. Giving chemotherapy and total-body irradiation before a donor stem cell transplant helps stop the growth of cancer cells. It may also stop the patient's immune system from rejecting the donor's stem cells. The donated stem cells may replace the patient's immune cells and help destroy any remaining cancer cells (graft-versus-tumor effect). Sometimes the transplanted cells from a donor can also make an immune response against the body's normal cells. Giving a monoclonal antibody, rituximab, together with anti-thymocyte globulin, tacrolimus, and mycophenolate mofetil before and after the transplant may stop this from happening

The addition of gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) in combination with Busulfan/Cyclophosphamide followed by AlloSCT in patients with high risk CD33+ AML/JMML/MDS will be safe and well tolerated. This study will attempt to determine the maximum tolerated dose of the immune therapy (gemtuzumab) when given in combination with the myeloablative (high dose) drugs used in this study for allogeneic stem cell transplant. (Part A)

The investigators hypothesize that, in addition to its apoptotic effect, clofarabine induces DNA hypomethylation. If the investigators' hypothesis is correct, findings from the present proposal will not only contribute to information relating to the mechanisms of action of clofarabine but also provide the opportunity for combined epigenetic targeting of MDS using clofarabine with either another hypomethylating agent or a histone deacetylase inhibitor. Clofarabine has demonstrated anti-cancer activity through inhibition of DNA synthesis and repair, induction of apoptosis, and possibly through other mechanisms. Numerous responses have been observed after treatment with clofarabine in heavily pre-treated relapsed/refractory patients with ALL, AML and high risk MDS. In the present proposal, the investigators will study the clinical and laboratory effects of 2 different dosages of clofarabine in patients who have failed the hypomethylating agent, 5-azacytidine. This study will recruit patients who have received at least six cycles of 5-azacytidine without response or whose disease has progressed or relapsed while on 5-azacytidine. The first cohort of patients will receive clofarabine 10 mg/m2/day for five days and the second cohort of patients 5 mg/m2/day for five days, both every four to six weeks. The investigators will determine the frequency of response to the two dosages of nucleoside analog in this group of patients. Measurement of responses will include improvement in the peripheral blood count, reduction in the blood and platelet transfusion need and eradication of cytogenetically abnormal clones. Successful completion of this study will define the position of clofarabine in MDS in the era of epigenetic targeting.