Active clinical trials for "Myelodysplastic Syndromes"

Rationale: Giving chemotherapy and total-body irradiation before a donor umbilical cord blood transplant helps stop the growth of cancer and abnormal cells and helps stop the patient's immune system from rejecting the donor's stem cells. When the healthy stem cells from the donor's umbilical cord blood are injected into the patient's bone marrow they may help make stem cells, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Purpose: This phase I/II trial is studying the side effects of donor umbilical cord blood transplant when given directly into the bone marrow and to see how well it works in treating patients with hematologic cancer.

This trial is designed to explore a modified dose and schedule of azacitidine in order to more effectively address the needs of patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), i.e., to alter the natural history of the disease without excessive toxicity or burden. The administration of erythropoietin is designed to influence the differentiation of primitive hematopoietic cells in which azacitidine has reversed the abnormal phenotype to red blood cells for patients in whom inadequate production of red blood cells is the major clinical issue.

In this trial the investigators seek to determine if injecting cord blood cells directly into the bone marrow (intraosseous injection), rather than infusing them intravenously, can improve engraftment. The rational for doing this is that most hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) infused intravenously never reach the bone marrow, getting trapped by other organs, such as the lungs, instead. The potential advantage of intraosseous infusion is suggested by studies in rodents that have demonstrated that in HSC transplants where the cell dose is limiting intraosseous injection is a more effective route of administration. The safety of intraosseous injections, in general, is underscored by the vast experience using intraosseous injections for resuscitation of critically ill children. The safety of injecting HSCs intraosseously has been demonstrated in a clinical trial of transplanting bone marrow cells. To safeguard against problems that might result, if intraosseous infusion fails to improve engraftment in this trial, the investigators will integrate a recently introduced strategy proven to improve engraftment-the transplantation of two cord blood units. Transplanting two unrelated cord blood units by intravenous infusion has been shown to improve engraftment (although there is still room for improvement). In this trial one unit will be injected intraosseously and the other unit will be infused intravenously. This study is being conducted as a forerunner to a larger, multi-center trial. The investigators intend to enroll five patients over 1-2 years.

RATIONALE: Giving chemotherapy and total-body irradiation (TBI) before a donor peripheral blood 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 the healthy stem cells from a donor are infused into the patient they will help the patient's bone marrow make stem cells, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Giving colony-stimulating factors, such as filgrastim (G-CSF) and plerixafor, to the donor helps the stem cells move (mobilization) from the bone marrow to the blood so they can be collected and stored. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying giving plerixafor and filgrastim together for mobilization of donor peripheral blood stem cells before a peripheral blood stem cell transplant in treating patients with hematologic malignancies

RATIONALE: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is a treatment that can cure acute leukemia and myelodysplasia. After giving the patient chemotherapy and total body irradiation to stop the growth of cancer and remove the patient's diseased bone marrow, healthy stem cells from a donor are infused into the patient to replace the patient's bone marrow and make red and white blood cells and platelets. Unfortunately HSCT is often complicated by 'graft versus host disease' (GVHD) in which the transplanted cells from a donor can make an immune response against the body's normal cells and cause tissue damage and severe symptoms. Removing a subset of the donor T cells, called 'naive T cells', before transplant may reduce the frequency and intensity of GVHD. PURPOSE: This phase II trial will determine whether the removal of the naive T cells from donor cells can decrease the rate and severity of graft-vs-host disease while preserving specific immunity against infections in patients with acute leukemia or advanced myelodysplastic syndromes.

This is an open-label, single arm phase 1 study to evaluate the dose-limiting toxicity, maximum tolerated dose, and recommended phase II dose of Clioquinol in patients with relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies. The study will also characterize Cliquinol's safety, tolerability and pharmacodynamic effect.

This phase II study will evaluate the safety and efficacy of combining two active agents;Revlimid® (lenalidomide) and low dose Vidaza® (azacitidine) for the treatment of patients with low to intermediate-1 MDS excluding patients with 5 q deletion. The rationale for adding Vidaza® (azacitidine) after 3 months of revlimid monotherapy is that combination therapy will result in higher response rates, and potentially longer response duration than that achieved with either agent. STUDY OBJECTIVES: Primary: To determine the safety and tolerability of the combination of Revlimid® (lenalidomide) and low dose Vidaza® (azacitidine) in patients with low - intermediate-1 risk MDS non 5 q deletion who have not responded after 3 months of Revlimid® (lenalidomide) monotherapy Secondary: To determine the response rate in patients with low - intermediate-1 risk MDS non 5 q deletion receiving Revlimid® (lenalidomide) in combination with low dose Vidaza® (azacitidine), as defined by the IWG 2006 Revised Response Criteria

Umbilical cord blood is used as a source of hematopoietic stem cells for bone marrow reconstitution in patients who would be potential candidates for a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated marrow donor. The outcome of transplantation is obtained to assess cord blood myeloid and platelet engraftment, transplant related mortality, overall survival, graft vs. host disease and, for patients with leukemia, lymphoma or myelodysplasia, relapse.

This phase II trial studies the side effects and best dose of iodine I 131 monoclonal antibody BC8 when given together with fludarabine phosphate, total-body irradiation, and donor stem cell transplant followed by cyclosporine and mycophenolate mofetil in treating patients with acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome that has spread to other places in the body and usually cannot be cured or controlled with treatment. Giving chemotherapy drugs, such as fludarabine phosphate, and total-body irradiation before a donor peripheral blood stem cell transplant helps stop the growth of cancer or abnormal cells and helps stop the patient's immune system from rejecting the donor's stem cells. Also, radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies, such as iodine I 131 monoclonal antibody BC8, can find cancer cells and carry cancer-killing substances to them without harming normal cells. When the healthy 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 fludarabine phosphate and total-body irradiation before the transplant together with cyclosporine and mycophenolate mofetil after the transplant may stop this from happening. Giving a radiolabeled monoclonal antibody together with donor stem cell transplant, cyclosporine, and mycophenolate mofetil may be an effective treatment for advanced acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndromes.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as azacitidine and arsenic trioxide, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving azacitidine together with arsenic trioxide works in treating patients with myelodysplastic syndromes or chronic myelomonocytic leukemia.