3 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
This research trial studies two types of tests, an ultrasound test and a biomarker test, to see how well they predict how aggressive (invasive) bladder cancer is in samples from patients with bladder cancer. The aggressiveness of a tumor means how likely it is to invade the body and spread. The ultrasound test uses a fluorescent dye and stimulates cells under a microscope to see how they respond. This may allow doctors to predict how likely the cancer cells are to spread in the body. The biomarker test uses laboratory testing of samples from patients to study genes and other molecules that may predict the cancer invasiveness. Comparing two different ways of predicting cancer aggressiveness may help doctors identify how well they work, and may eventually allow doctors to predict aggressiveness without needing to take a biopsy.
The use of a designed viral vector that can destroy cancer cells while leaving normal cells largely unharmed. The virus also stimulates an immunological response by producing a special factor (GM-CSF) to attract and promote the development of dendritic and T effector cells. It forms the hypothesis that this regimen may be used for people who have failed current forms of treatment and are recommended for cystectomy. It is with hope that this novel therapy will be able to delay or potentially avoid cystectomy for this patient population. Bladder instillation of this agent causes little long lasting side effects and may drastically improve the stimulation of the immune system for local cancer cell death as well as destroying those tumor cells that may have travelled to regional lymph nodes or distant organs.
This is a Phase 1b/2, multi-center, open label umbrella study of patients ≥12 years of age with recurrent, progressive, or refractory melanoma or other solid tumors with alterations in the key proteins of the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway, referred to as the MAPK pathway.