Active clinical trials for "Preleukemia"

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more cancer cells. It is not yet known which regimen of combination chemotherapy is more effective for acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of different combination chemotherapy regimens in treating children who have newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of pyroxamide in treating patients who have advanced cancer.

Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of thalidomide in treating patients who have myelodysplastic syndrome. Thalidomide may improve the immune system's ability to fight myelodysplastic syndrome

RATIONALE: Immunosuppressive therapy may improve bone marrow abnormalities and may be an effective treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of antithymocyte globulin plus cyclosporine in treating patients who have myelodysplastic syndrome.

This phase I/II trial studies whether a new kind of blood stem cell (bone marrow) transplant, that may be less toxic, is able to treat underlying blood cancer. Stem cells are "seed cells" necessary to make blood cells. Researchers want to see if using less radiation and less chemotherapy with new immune suppressing drugs will enable a stem cell transplant to work. Researchers are hoping to see a mixture of recipient and donor stem cells after transplant. This mixture of donor and recipient stem cells is called "mixed-chimerism". Researchers hope to see these donor cells eliminate tumor cells. This is called a "graft-versus-leukemia" response.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Monoclonal antibodies such as gemtuzumab ozogamicin can locate cancer cells and either kill them or deliver cancer-killing substances to them without harming normal cells. Combining monoclonal antibody therapy with combination chemotherapy may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of combining gemtuzumab ozogamicin with combination chemotherapy in treating children who have relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome.

RATIONALE: Erythropoietin and colony-stimulating factors such as filgrastim stimulate the production of blood cells. It is not yet known whether erythropoietin with or without filgrastim is more effective than standard blood transfusions in reducing the need for transfusions in patients who have anemia associated with myelodysplastic syndrome. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of erythropoietin with or without filgrastim with that of standard blood transfusions in reducing the need for transfusions in patients who have anemia associated with myelodysplastic syndrome.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Chemoprotective drugs such as amifostine may protect normal cells from the side effects of chemotherapy. PURPOSE: Phase I/II trial to study the effectiveness of amifostine plus topotecan in treating patients with myelodysplastic syndrome.

RATIONALE: Umbilical cord blood transplantation may allow doctors to give higher doses of chemotherapy or radiation therapy and kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well umbilical cord blood transplantation works in treating patients with severe aplastic anemia, malignant thymoma, or myelodysplasia.

RATIONALE: Bone marrow and peripheral stem cell transplantation may be able to replace immune cells that were destroyed by chemotherapy or radiation therapy used to kill cancer cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of T-cell depleted bone marrow and G-CSF stimulated peripheral stem cell transplantation in treating patients with leukemia, lymphoblastic lymphoma, myelodysplastic syndrome, or aplastic anemia.