Active clinical trials for "Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive"

RATIONALE: Giving low doses of chemotherapy, such as fludarabine, and radiation therapy before a donor stem cell transplant helps stop the growth of cancer cells. It also stops the patient's immune system from rejecting the donor's stem cells. The donated stem cells may replace the patient's immune system 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 after transplant may stop this from happening. PURPOSE: This phase I/II trial is studying the side effects and best dose of fludarabine, total-body irradiation, and donor stem cell transplant followed by cyclosporine and mycophenolate mofetil and to see how well they work in treating patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia.

The goal of this clinical research study is to learn if combining cord blood units to make the cells "take" faster in recipients will help to improve the results of cord blood transplants.

The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of cord blood transplantation for adult patients with hematologic malignancies including refractory acute leukemia. The transplant procedure was determined in detail according to the previously published report showing a high survival, so that the investigators could expect a similar result.

RATIONALE: Vaccines made from a person's white blood cells may make the body build an immune response to kill cancer cells. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of vaccine therapy in treating patients who have chronic myelogenous leukemia.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Peripheral stem cell transplantation may be able to replace immune cells that were destroyed by chemotherapy used to kill tumor cells. Sometimes the transplanted cells are rejected by the body's normal tissues. Drugs such as cyclosporine may prevent this from happening. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy followed by peripheral stem cell transplantation in treating patients who have chronic myelogenous leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Biological therapies use different ways to stimulate the immune system and stop cancer cells from growing. Peripheral stem cell transplantation may be able to replace immune cells that were destroyed by chemotherapy. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of chemotherapy followed by peripheral stem cell transplantation and biological therapy in treating patients who have chronic myelogenous leukemia.

RATIONALE: STI571 may interfere with the growth of cancer cells and may be effective treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of STI571 in treating patients who have chronic myeloid leukemia that has not responded to interferon alfa.

The are a variety of cancerous diseases of the blood and bone marrow that can be potentially cured by bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Diseases like leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma are among the conditions that can be treated with BMT. Some patients with these diseases can be treated with medical chemotherapy alone. However, patients who relapse following chemotherapy are usually not curable with additional chemotherapy treatments. The only option known to provide a potential cure if this occurs is BMT. Allogenic transplants are cells collected from relatives of the patient. The transplant requires additional high intensity chemotherapy and radiation in order to destroy cancerous cells. In the process, many normal bone marrow cells are also destroyed. This is the reason for transplanting stem cells. The stem cells help to build new functioning bone marrow, red cells, white cells, and platelets. In addition, the immune cells from the donor are implanted into the recipient s body and help to fight off infection and kill remaining cancerous cells. Unfortunately, the powerful doses of chemotherapy and radiation therapy associated with allogenic BMT have toxic side effects and often make BMTs too dangerous to attempt in many patients. In order to reduce the complications of BMT, and make it a safer available option for patients with cancers of the blood and bone marrow, researchers have developed a new approach to the BMT. In this study researchers plan to use stem cells collected from the blood stream of patient s relatives rather than from the bone marrow (blood progenitor/stem cell transplant). In addition, researchers plan to use low doses of chemotherapy and no radiation therapy to reduce side effects. The majority of the cancer killing effect will be the responsibility of the stem cell transplant rather than the chemotherapy.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of dolastatin 10 in treating patients who have refractory or relapsed acute leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast phase, or myelodysplastic syndrome.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of R115777 in treating patients who have refractory or recurrent acute leukemia or chronic myelogenous leukemia.