Active clinical trials for "Myelodysplastic Syndromes"

RATIONALE: Giving chemotherapy before a donor bone marrow transplant or peripheral stem cell transplant helps stop the growth of cancer cells and helps stop the patient's immune system from rejecting the donor's stem cells. When certain stem cells from a donor are infused into the patient they may help the patient's bone marrow make stem cells, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Sometimes the transplanted cells from a donor can make an immune response against the body's normal cells. Giving tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil after the transplant may stop this from happening. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving busulfan together with cyclophosphamide and antithymocyte globulin followed by donor stem cell transplant works in treating patients with hematologic cancer.

The purpose of this study is to find a safe dose of actinium-225 when it is labeled to HuM195. This will be done with a "phase I trial," in which a preset schedule of doses gets more powerful for each new group of patients as the trial progresses. If too many serious side effects are seen with a certain dose, no one will be treated with a higher dose, and some additional patients may be treated with a lower dose to make sure that this dose is safe. The starting dose of actinium-225 in this study is less than doses that are known to be safe in animals. Antibodies are proteins that are produced by the immune system and help the body to fight foreign substances, such as bacteria or viruses. HuM195 was made by putting human leukemia cells into mice. Most of the mouse parts of this antibody were replaced with human parts. Only the part of the antibody that binds to the leukemia cells was kept from the mouse. HuM195 attaches to leukemia cells but does not attach to most normal cells. It can kill small amounts of disease by identifying the leukemia cells as "foreign." HuM195 has worked less well against large amounts of leukemia since the normal immune cells needed to kill leukemia cells are lowered in most patients with leukemia.

The goal of this clinical research study is to find the highest safe dose of vorinostat that can be given in combination with idarubicin and ara-C for the treatment of AML and high-risk MDS. Once the highest safe dose is found, researchers will then try to learn if this combination treatment can help to control AML and high-risk MDS in newly diagnosed patients. The safety of this treatment combination will also be studied.

The purpose of this study is to determine if we can prevent Epstein Barr Virus lymphomas by the monthly administration of an (antibody) protein against B lymphocytes called Rituximab. Although this medicine has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat patients with other types of lymphomas, and has been used to treat a small number of patients with EBV lymphomas and other types of B-cell leukemias, it has not been approved to try and prevent EBV-lymphomas. Use of Rituximab to try to prevent EBV-lymphomas is therefore experimental.

Subjects will be diagnosed with a hematological malignancy (cancer of the blood), which is unlikely to be cured with conventional non-transplant therapy. The best results of bone marrow transplant are obtained with the donor is a relative that has identical tissue type (HLA-type). These subjects will not have such a donor available but they will have a appropriately matching unrelated umbilical cord blood unit (UCB). However, the cord blood unit does not contain a high enough number of cells and may take longer to engraft (or grow). The purpose of this study is to determine whether the addition of stem cells from a family member to supplement a standard unrelated cord blood transplant is safe and will increase the success of the cord blood transplantation procedure. Subjects enrolled in this study will receive an unrelated cord blood transplant plus a haplo-identical (half-matched), T-cell depleted stem transplant from a related donor. The goal of this study is to determine whether the addition of the related stem cells accelerates bone marrow recovery and improves long-term disease free survival.

The goal of this clinical research study is to learn if Vidaza (azacitidine) will help to control the disease in patients with AML, CMML, or MDS after an allogeneic (donor) stem cell transplant. The safety of this drug will also be studied.

The purpose of this research study is to determine if the GM-K562/leukemia cell vaccine can be safely given soon after allogeneic marrow or blood stem cell transplant. The GM-K562/leukemia cell vaccine is composed of a cultured cell line that has been genetically modified to secrete GM-CSF, a naturally occuring substance in the body that stimulates the immune system. The vaccine is a mixture of the GM-K562 cells (radiated to prevent them from growing in the participants body) with the participant's previously frozen and killed leukemia cells. By mixing the GM-K562 with the leukemia cells, we would like to study whether this vaccine combination will stimulate the participant's new immune system to recognize and fight against their MDS/AML cancer cells.

RATIONALE: Giving low doses of chemotherapy 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 antithymocyte globulin before the transplant and tacrolimus and methotrexate after the transplant may stop this from happening. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving antithymocyte globulin together with cyclophosphamide, busulfan, and fludarabine works in treating patients with hematological cancer or kidney cancer undergoing donor stem cell transplant.

The purpose of this study is to determine the maximum tolerated duration and schedule of oral VORINOSTAT in addition to low dose cytarabine in the treatment of Intermediate-2 and High risk myelodysplastic syndromes.

RATIONALE: Giving low doses of chemotherapy before a donor stem cell transplant using stem cells that closely match the patient's stem cells, 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 cells and help destroy any remaining cancer cells (graft-versus-tumor effect). Sometimes the transplanted cells from a donor can make an immune response against the body's normal cells. Giving antilymphocyte globulin before transplant may stop this from happening. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well fludarabine, busulfan, and antilymphocyte globulin together with donor stem cell transplant works in treating older patients with hematological cancer.