Active clinical trials for "Prostatic Neoplasms"

The primary objective of this study is to determine the safety and tolerability of a gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy for prostate cancer. FP253 contains an ovine atadenovirus that expresses the E. coli enzyme purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) under the control of a prostate-directed promoter. PNP converts systemically administered fludarabine (the prodrug) into 2-fluoroadenine (the active agent) at the site where FP253 has been administered (the prostate). This localized conversion is expected to provide organ-targeted chemotherapy that should reduce the systemic side effects associated with classical chemotherapy and also reduce the risk of debilitating damage to tissues surrounding the prostate.

There is much interest in understanding the role that vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) plays in various cancers, and in the prognosis of various cancers once they are discovered. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of vitamin D on prostate cancer-associated lesions and on vitamin D metabolites in prostate tissue. We will give vitamin D3 to men when they are scheduled to have their prostate removed because of cancer. The men will take vitamin D at one of 3 doses for 4-6 weeks, until the surgery is performed. We will compare the prostate tissue taken from the men receiving the higher doses of vitamin D to tissue from men assigned to the lower doses. We expect to find that the prostate removed at surgery from men who received the high-dose vitamin D treatment will appear more normal, and less cancer like. In addition, we will measure vitamin D metabolites in the prostate to confirm that these did accumulate in the prostate to bring about the effects observed.

This is a two-part study. Part I is an observational study. Part II is a randomized clinical trial to see how well medical nutrition therapy works compared with standard care in treating patients with lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, or stage III or stage IV prostate cancer.

For the treatment of locally recurrent prostate cancer following failed external beam radiation therapy (EBRT)

This is an investigational study on the use of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in the management of localized prostate cancer (T1c/T2a) as a primary non-comparative study. High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a non-invasive acoustic ablation technique that uses intersecting, precision focused ultrasound waves to raise the temperature of the target to) 80-90 degrees C in 2-3 seconds, destroying the targeted tissues (prostate cancer). The tissue targeting is highly precise, minimizing collateral damage. The overall hypothesis is that HIFU with Sonablate can safely, effectively and selectively ablate prostate cancer tissue, resulting in complete tissue necrosis, in patients diagnosed with localized T1c/T2a prostate cancer, with minimal morbidity. The specific hypothesis is that the Sonablate has the ability to: Completely destroy prostate cancer tissue, without causing damage to the intervening tissue, with a drop in PSA levels to <0.5ng/ml. Result in negative biopsies for evidence of viable malignant cells after the treatment (12 months if Nadir is not reached or PSA rises from Nadir) Safely treat localized prostate cancer patients, with minimal and acceptable adverse effects

We propose in this study to treat hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) patients., with a novel preparation of fermented wheat germ nutriment (FWGE), in combination with the 1st line hormone therapy, the gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), which stopped being effective. The study will be conducted during two years with 60 patients. The efficacy will be assessed in terms of clinical and serological response and by specific questionnaires. This concept is based on previous reports regarding other diseases such as colon cancer, where the addition of a new drug to a drug which previously had failed, improved the patients' survival, the quality of life and the clinical parameters. In addition, preclinical data have shown activity of that regimen in prostate cancer cell lines and in animals' models. FWGE exhibits a wide variety of mode of actions, in a wide range of malignant tumors. It increased the natural immune responses while decreasing the systemic inflammation often present in cancer patients. It reduced the growth of human prostate tumor xenograft in mice and prolonged their survival. It delayed disease progression, increased overall survivals, improve quality of life and reduce oxidative stress. The long-term goal of this research is that the addition of FWGE to a drug which previously had failed, would slow down disease progression in patients with advanced and thus refractory cancers, improving the patients' quality of life, their clinical parameters and survival.

Purpose: Castrate resistance prostate cancer (CRPC) often shows histological evidence of neuroendocrine differentiation (NED). Recently the investigators initiated a research project investigating the uptake of the radiotracer 68Ga-DOTATET (a marker of neuroendocrine tumors-NET) in PET/CT in patients with CRPC. In 4/8 patients studied thus far, uptake of the tracer in bone metastases was found. It has been shown that monthly injections of Somatostatin lengthen overall survival in patients with NET. The purpose of the current project is to examine the ability of Somatostatin to stabilize or possibly reverse metastases in patients with CRPC that express high level of somatostatin receptors in 68Ga-DOTATET PET/CT. Materials and Methods: 30 patients with CRPC will be studied with 68Ga-DOTATET PET/CT. Patients showing uptake of the radiotracer 68Ga-DOTATET in at two least to metastases will be considered eligible for the study. These patients will be evaluated biochemically and clinically and will be treated with monthly injections of Sandoatatin LAR - 30mg. Clinical, biochemical and imaging studies (68Ga-DOTATET PET/CT) will be repeated after 4 and 12 months of treatment. Responding patients (stabilization or decrease in the number and SUV of metastases) will be subjected to continued therapy until progression.

This trial is going to evaluate tumor control and quality of life in patients with prostate cancer treated with endocrine therapy with or without cryoablation.

To evaluate the efficacy of rotational technique in the insertion of i-gel

A single high dose rate brachytherapy (HDR) treatment combined with a short course of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) is a highly effective and well tolerated treatment for men with intermediate risk prostate cancer. High cancer control rates have also been reported with HDR used on its own, without the EBRT. The challenge has been to determine what HDR dose to use with a move towards one or two fractions by several investigators. These schedules are reported to be well tolerated in the short term, but with little long term data. The objective of this study is to investigate HDR monotherapy given as either one fraction of 19 Gy or two fractions of 13.5 Gy in a randomized phase II clinical trial. The primary endpoint is patient reported toxicity and health related quality of life at 1 year, and efficacy data will be also be analyzed. Sample size for the study is 174 patients, which we expect to accrue within 18 months.