Active clinical trials for "Myelodysplastic Syndromes"

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one chemotherapy drug may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of phenylbutyrate plus azacitidine in treating patients who have acute myeloid leukemia, myelodysplasia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, non-small cell lung cancer, or prostate cancer.

RATIONALE: Bone marrow transplantation may be able to replace immune cells that were destroyed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy used to kill tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of bone marrow transplantation in treating patients who have hematologic cancer.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Colony-stimulating factors such as filgrastim may increase the number of immune cells found in bone marrow or peripheral blood and may help a person's immune system recover from the side effects of chemotherapy. It is not yet known whether combination chemotherapy with filgrastim and/or tretinoin is more effective than combination chemotherapy alone for acute myeloid leukemia. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying combination chemotherapy with filgrastim and/or tretinoin to see how well they work compared to combination chemotherapy alone in treating patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the effectiveness of moderate dose cyclophosphamide and radiotherapy in terms of improving survival and reducing the morbidity following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and acute leukemia related to Fanconi's anemia.

This study will determine the safety and effectiveness of a combination of the immune-suppressing drugs antithymocyte globulin (ATG) and cyclosporine for treating myelodysplasia, a disorder of low blood cell counts. It will: evaluate whether this drug combination can increase blood counts in patients and reduce their need for transfusions; compare survival of patients who respond to ATG and cyclosporine treatment with those who do not respond; and determine the side effects of the treatment. Myelodysplasia is thought to result from an immune system abnormality in which cells called lymphocytes attack the marrow's blood-forming cells. The resulting deficiencies of platelets and red and white blood cells cause anemia, susceptibility to infections, and easy bruising and bleeding. Various therapies, such as blood transfusions for anemia and bleeding, antibiotics for infection, chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation are used to treat myelodysplasia, but all have disadvantages and some carry serious risks. Patients 18 years of age and older with myelodysplasia may be eligible for this study. Candidates will be screened with a physical examination and medical history, blood tests, chest X-ray, electrocardiogram and bone marrow biopsy (removal of a marrow sample from the hipbone for microscopic examination).

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.

This study will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of stem cell transplantation in which the donors T lymphocytes have undergone "selective depletion." Certain patients with cancers of the blood undergo transplantation of donated stem cells to generate new and normally functioning bone marrow. In addition to producing the new bone marrow, the donor's T-lymphocytes also fight any tumor cells that might have remained in the body. This attack on tumor cells is called a "graft-versus-leukemia" (GVL) effect. However, another type of T-lymphocyte from the donor may cause what is called "graft-versus-host-disease" (GVHD), in which the donor cells recognize the patient's cells as foreign and mount an immune response to reject them. Selective depletion is a technique that was developed to remove the T-lymphocytes that cause harmful GVHD, while keeping those that produce the desirable GVL effect.

RATIONALE: Peripheral stem cell transplantation may be able to replace immune cells that were destroyed by chemotherapy or radiation therapy used to kill tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of peripheral stem cell transplantation from related donors to prevent graft-versus-host disease in treating patients with hematologic cancer.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining chemotherapy with bone marrow transplantation may allow doctors to give higher doses of chemotherapy and kill more cancer cells. It is not yet known whether chemotherapy is more effective with or without bone marrow transplantation for acute myeloid leukemia. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of chemotherapy with or without bone marrow transplantation in treating children who have acute myeloid leukemia.

Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of combining interleukin-12 and interferon alfa in treating patients who have residual, recurrent, or metastatic malignant melanoma or other advanced cancer that has not responded to standard therapy. Interleukin-12 may stimulate a person's white blood cells to kill cancer cells. Interferon alfa may interfere with the growth of the cancer cells. Combining interleukin-12 with interferon alfa may kill more cancer cells.