Active clinical trials for "Skin Neoplasms"

RATIONALE: Gefitinib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. PEG-interferon alfa-2a may interfere with the growth of tumor cells and slow the growth of skin cancer. Giving gefitinib together with PEG-interferon alfa-2a may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase I/II trial is studying the side effects and best dose of PEG-interferon alfa-2a when given together with gefitinib and to see how well they work in treating patients with unresectable or metastatic skin cancer.

Heart transplant is a recognized therapeutic strategy in refractory heart failure. Its success is however hampered by severe cancer occurrence and recurrence. The new m-tor inhibiting drugs Sirolimus and Everolimus have shown potential for reducing the incidence of cancer in animal models. They are potent immunosuppressant, antiproliferative and antiangiogenic drugs. This open labelled randomized multicenter study aims at evaluating the beneficial antineoplastic effect of Everolimus in 159 heart transplant patients suffering of recurrent skin cancer. Primary objective is to demonstrate a reduction in the number of new skin cancers. Secondary end point will be time of recurrence, incidence of non skin cancer, graft function following switch (including death), renal function evolution following calcineurin inhibitors reduction or withdrawal, Everolimus tolerance profile, schemes of calcineurin inhibitors reduction management in centers.

RATIONALE: Photodynamic therapy uses a drug that becomes active when it is exposed to a certain kind of light. When the drug is active, tumor cells are killed. This may be an effective treatment against skin cancer. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying the side effects of photodynamic therapy using aminolevulinic acid and to see how well it works in treating patients with skin cancer.

Cutaneous Squamous Cell Cancer (Cscc, 25%) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC; 75%) are the major subtypes of non-melanoma skin cancer. Most cSCC arise in the head and neck region because it is frequently exposed to sunlight and its ensuing UV radiation-induced DNA damage, which is the major etiologic factor. There is an urgent need to identify new therapeutic targets for patients with locally advanced or metastatic squamous Cell Cancer of the skin. Substantial progress has recently been made in the development of immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer. In particular, the treatment with pembrolizumab alone or in conjunction with an anti epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) agent may reverse this condition, so performing radical surgery. Finally, the adjunct of an anti EGFR agent as cetuximab could reverse the primary and secondary resistance to pembrolizumab, with a synergistic effect able to counteract pathway redundancy (i.e. the presence of several concurrent pathways which need to be addressed together) and boosting T cell priming. Hence, there is rationale to combine cetuximab with pembrolizumab in order to increase its effectiveness.

To collect and analyze long term safety and efficacy outcomes of patients undergoing radiotherapy for non-melanoma skin cancer. A target of 400 VMAT-treated sites is set which is estimated to be identified in approximately 350 participants. Participants referred for radiotherapy for the management of non-melanoma skin cancer.

This is a mono-center open-label proof-of-concept pharmacologic study to explore the efficacy and safety of vorinostat in advanced BRAF mutated melanoma, which became resistant for BRAF-inhibitors or the combination of BRAF- and MEK-inhibitors.

Title: Vaccination with autologous dendritic cells loaded with autologous tumor lysate or homogenate combined with immunomodulating radiotherapy and/or preleukapheresis IFN-alfa in patients with metastatic melanoma: a randomized "proof-of-principle" phase II study. Study Design: Randomized selection design, proof of principle study Study Duration: 36 months Number of Subjects: 24 evaluable patients Diagnosis and Main Inclusion Criteria: Patients with non resectable stage III or stage IV malignant melanoma carrying at least 2 measurable lesions, any line after 1st line Vemurafenib in patients carrying BRAF mutation-positive melanoma and/or ≥ 2nd line Ipilimumab. Study Product, Dose, Route, Regimen and duration of administration: Intradermal Autologous Dendritic Cell vaccine loaded with autologous tumor lysate or homogenate on weeks 1, 4 6 and 8 during induction phase, and every 4 weeks during maintenance phase up to a maximum of 14 vaccine doses (each dose followed by IL-2 3 MU day 2-6) COMBINED OR NOT WITH IFN-alfa 3 MU daily for 7 days before leukapheresis AND/OR Three daily doses of 8 Gy up to 12 Gy delivered to one metastatic field between vaccine doses 1 and 2 (optional to one additional field between doses 7 and 8) utilizing IMRT-IMAT techniques.

The purpose of this study is to determine if magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron emission tomography (PET) imaging can be used to help doctors determine how much oxygen a tumor is getting. Hypoxyprobe will be used to determine the levels of oxygen post-surgery in the current study. If the study is successful, then imaging can be used to determine a tumor's oxygen status even in patients who are not getting surgery. Investigators want to find out how much oxygen is in the participants tumor based on how much pimo is present, and correlate this with the results of their MRI and 18F-fluoromisonidazole (FMISO) PET scan. This study is also testing the investigational radioactive substance known as FMISO. FMISO is used during PET scans to help doctors see how much oxygen a tumor is getting. Participants might be asked to participate in an optional PET scan using FMISO.

It has been well established that malignant tumors tend to have low levels of oxygen and that tumors with very low levels of oxygen are more resistant to radiotherapy and other treatments, such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Previous attempts to improve response to therapy by increasing the oxygen level of tissues have had disappointing results and collectively have not led to changing clinical practice. Without a method to measure oxygen levels in tumors or the ability to monitor over time whether tumors are responding to methods to increase oxygen during therapy, clinician's reluctance to use oxygen therapy in usual practice is not surprising. The hypothesis underlying this research is that repeated measurements of tissue oxygen levels can be used to optimize cancer therapy, including combined therapy, and to minimize normal tissue side effects or complications. Because studies have found that tumors vary both in their initial levels of oxygen and exhibit changing patterns during growth and treatment, we propose to monitor oxygen levels in tumors and their responsiveness to hyperoxygenation procedures. Such knowledge about oxygen levels in tumor tissues and their responsiveness to hyper-oxygenation could potentially be used to select subjects for particular types of treatment, or otherwise to adjust routine care for patients known to have hypoxic but unresponsive tumors in order to improve their outcomes. The overall objectives of this study are to establish the clinical feasibility and efficacy of using in vivo electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) oximetry-a technique related to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-to obtain direct and repeated measurements of clinically useful information about tumor tissue oxygenation in specific groups of subjects with the same types of tumors, and to establish the clinical feasibility and efficacy of using inhalation of enriched oxygen to gain additional clinically useful information about responsiveness of tumors to hyper-oxygenation. Two devices are used: a paramagnetic charcoal suspension (Carlo Erba India ink) and in vivo EPR oximetry to assess oxygen levels. The ink is injected and becomes permanent in the tissue at the site of injection unless removed; thereafter, the in vivo oximetry measurements are noninvasive and can be repeated indefinitely.

This feasibility study aims to evaluate the use of the BARCO NV digital dermatoscope (non-CE marked device) in the skin cancer clinic. All eligible patients attending the Dermatology outpatient skin cancer clinic will be invited to participate. Patients who consent to the study will undergo standard care which will include medical photography of skin lesion(s) and appropriate management as determined by the Consultant Dermatologist in clinic. In addition to standard care, patients will undergo photography of the same lesion(s) using the BARCO NV digital dermatoscope. There will be no other intervention and no additional hospital visits in relation to the study. Use of the device will not influence the clinical management of the patient. A detailed experience questionnaire will be administered to all clinicians using the BARCO device to explore their opinion on its ease of use and features. All standard macroscopic & dermoscopic images will be taken by OUH medical illustration department and stored on the 'Fotoweb' database (in keeping with current standard practice). Trained Dermatology Consultants, Dermatology Registrars, Research nurses or Medical Photographers, will take BARCO NV device images. A database of all BARCO images will be collected and stored on a dedicated NHS computer separate from the patient clinical record. Standard medical photography images will be stored on Fotoweb as per standard NHS clinical care. Data will be anonymised and collated and then sent securely to BARCO for further analyses to enable optimization of the BARCO device and for development of diagnostic algorithms in the future.