Active clinical trials for "Preleukemia"

RATIONALE: A peripheral stem cell transplant or an umbilical cord blood transplant from a donor may be able to replace blood-forming cells that were destroyed by chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Giving an infusion of the donor's white blood cells (donor lymphocyte infusion) after the transplant may help destroy any remaining cancer cells (graft-versus-tumor effect). Sometimes the transplanted cells can make an immune response against the body's normal cells. Methotrexate, cyclosporine, tacrolimus, or methylprednisolone may stop this from happening. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how well a donor stem cell transplant or donor white blood cell infusions work in treating patients with hematologic cancer.

In this study, MGCD0103, a new anticancer drug under investigation, is given three times per week to elderly patients with previously untreated acute myelogenous leukemia/high risk myelodysplastic syndrome or adults with relapsed/refractory disease.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as cyclophosphamide, work in different ways to stop the growth of abnormal blood cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving cyclophosphamide together with donor lymphocytes that have been treated in the laboratory may be an effective treatment for myelodysplastic syndromes or myeloproliferative disorders. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying the best dose of donor lymphocytes when given together with cyclophosphamide in treating patients with myelodysplastic syndromes or myeloproliferative disorders.

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 I/II trial is studying the side effects and best dose of azacitidine when given together with arsenic trioxide and to see how well they work in treating patients with myelodysplastic syndromes.

The purpose of this study is to find out what the maximal tolerated dose of Velcade can be given with thalidomide in patients with myelodysplasia.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of arsenic trioxide in treating patients who have myelodysplastic syndromes.

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are bone marrow malignant diseases resulting in ineffective haematopoiesis and subsequently, blood cell count decrease. Patients have anaemia responsible of fatigue and high heart frequency, thrombocytopenia responsible of increased risk of bleeding and neutropenia responsible of increased risk of infection. The patients suffering from MDS also are at increased risk of developing acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML). Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) remains the only curative option for patients with aggressive MDS. However, these patients are frequently ineligible for this kind of treatment, because of, for instance, age and co-morbidities. Thus, other treatment options are needed and Azacytidine (AZA), a hypomethylating agent is then proposed. With this COMYRE observatory study, we wanted to analyse which patients undergo alloSCT, why they are not eligible to alloSCT if it is the case, the overall survival of all the patients and if there are some factors which can influence this survival. It could help us to better identify the best candidate for alloSCT and those for other treatments such as AZA.

The goal of this clinical research study is to learn if pacritinib, either alone or in combination with azacitidine or decitabine, can help to control MDS. The safety of this drug and drug combination will also be studied.

The goal of this clinical research study is to learn if eltrombopag given in combination with decitabine can help to control advanced MDS. The safety of this study drug combination will also be studied.

Myelodysplastic syndromes are common blood disorders that can affect as many as one in 1000 Canadians over the age of 65. They are characterized by low blood counts that require frequent blood transfusions. The development of iron overload in these patients is inevitable. The iron deposits in vital organs such as the heart and the liver and can lead to organ dysfunction. Deferasirox is a well-studied drug that helps remove iron from the body. Most people with this disorder die due to progression of their disease to acute leukemia through multiple mechanisms. Iron overload in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes has been shown to be associated with shorter survival, and potentially a higher chance of leukemia. In a certain sub-group of higher risk patients, the drug azacitidine has been shown to decrease the chance of progression to leukemia and death from it. Thus, it is presently the standard of care for these patients. However, 50% of higher risk patients are still unresponsive to this medication, leaving a large group of patients for which other treatment options are emergently needed. Given that a large proportion of higher risk MDS patients fail to respond to azacitidine, and the evidence that iron deposition may lead to increased leukemic transformation, we would like to study whether iron removal from the body with deferasirox potentiates azacitidine in its effects on overall survival, as well as the chance of leukemia transformation. This question needs to be addressed in a randomized controlled trial, and the first step is a preliminary study to determine if the combination of azacitidine and deferasirox has any biologic effect. This study will determine whether this combination leads to blood count improvement over azacitidine alone. If this drug combination ultimately proves more useful than azacitidine alone with respect to survival, this has the potential to impact the care of a large proportion of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes.