Active clinical trials for "Melanoma"

This phase II trial is studying the side effects and how well viral therapy works in treating patients with metastatic melanoma. Viral therapy may be able to kill tumor cells without damaging normal cells.

Most of HLA-A2 melanomas express Melan-A/MART-1 antigen and are recognized by tumor reactive Melan-A specific T lymphocytes. By using blood samples from HLA-A2 melanoma patients (stage III and IV), our goal is to produce a tumor reactive Melan-A specific T cell clones and to conduct a phase I-II clinical trial, based on the infusion of several millions to several billions of these lymphocytes to the patient, in order to induce passive immunity against this antigen. Production of the clones will be performed in the Unit for Cellular and Gene Therapy from Nantes University Hospital. Therapeutic response, safety treatment but also localization and survival of infused T cell clones will be assessed. This approach is expected to precise the ability of the clones to migrate within the tumor and to transfer specific immunity.

The purpose of the study is to determine if ipilimumab is effective in preventing or delaying recurrence and prolongs survival after complete resection of high risk stage III melanoma

The purpose of this study is to investigate a method of using dendritic cells (a kind of white blood cell) as a vaccine to stimulate your own immune system to react to your melanoma cells.

The purpose of this research study is to determine the safety of LBH589 as well as to find out what side effects it may cause and how effective it is against melanoma. LBH589 is a drug which may slow down the growth of cancer cells or kill cancer cells by blocking certain enzymes, which are proteins normally produced by cells. These enzymes are known to play an important role in the development and reproduction of cancer cells. It is believed that LBH589 works by helping to promote the activity of enzymes which turn on the mechanisms in our cells that suppress cells from becoming cancerous.

Melanoma with a tumor thickness >= 1.5mm without clinically detectable nodes represents an increasing population with relapse rate of more than 50%. Adjuvant therapy with low doses of IFN alpha can provide a benefit in this group. However, the impact of low dose IFN alpha is not sustained after the treatment period. A longer treatment may prolong the benefit and thus have a more clear-cut impact on disease-free and overall survival. The tolerance and the impact on quality of life are limiting factors in a group of patients whose individual course is not necessarily poor. PegIntron may be better tolerated than instant release interferon, and thus make this treatment more acceptable in terms of toxicity and quality of life. Thus treatment schedule with PegIntron is not expected to increase the cost of standard care significantly.

The purpose of this research study is to evaluate the effectiveness of transplantation of high doses of peripheral blood stem cells (stem cells are special cells found in the blood and bone marrow that produce new blood cells) after treatment with non-myeloablative chemotherapy (not toxic to the bone marrow). In addition, this study will assess the side effects of the transplant.

The purpose of this study is to determine the safety of an injection of coxsackievirus A21 into a melanoma tumour, and also to see if there is a tumour response.

Melanoma is the main cause of death in patients with skin cancer. Once it has metastasized, this cancer has been shown to respond to chemotherapy only in rare cases. Immunotherapy represents an approach to treatment based on the immune response to cancer antigens. The principal objective of the study is to identify whether a dendritic cell-based vaccine can increase the moderate therapeutic effect of bolus high dose IL-2 in patients with metastatic melanoma. For this purpose,patients with metastatic melanoma who have a certain blood type (HLA-A201+) will be treated systemically with high dose IL-2. In one group of patients, the IL-2 will be preceded by three doses of autologous dendritic cell pulsed with melanoma antigens appropriate for their blood type. Two cycles of three DC vaccines will be administered every 14 days by intra-lymph node injections, followed by high dose IL-2 treatment. Responding patients will receive additional DC vaccines at 1 month and 2 months intervals. In a second group, patients will receive the standard high dose IL-2 protocol within a comparable period of time. Each group will include 12 patients. A complete evaluation of evaluable lesions will be performed prior to accrual, after initial 3 DC vaccines, six weeks after first IL-2 treatment, after a total of 6 DC vaccines and 6 weeks after second cycle of IL-2 treatment.

Subjects must be diagnosed with melanoma. All subjects receive Wide Excision (WEX) of their melanoma. If the melanoma meets study requirements, the subject is randomized to receive either (1) no further surgical procedures as part of the study or (2) a Selective Lymphadenectomy with the possibility of a Complete Lymphadenectomy. Subjects are then followed for 10 years.