3 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
The goal of this clinical research study is to learn whether delivering spine radiosurgery in a single large dose is better than delivering spine radiosurgery over 3 smaller doses. Researchers also want to learn about the effects of a single dose on participant's symptoms, pain, and quality-of-life.
RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. O6-benzylguanine may help carmustine kill more tumor cells by making tumor cells more sensitive to the drug. It is not yet known whether radiation therapy and carmustine are more effective with or without O6-benzylguanine. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of radiation therapy plus carmustine with or without O6-benzylguanine in treating patients who have newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme or gliosarcoma.
Some tumors are difficult to treat with chemotherapy or radiation. One of the reasons is that areas of the tumor do not have many blood vessels, which makes it difficult for drugs to reach those areas. One way that researchers have recently tried to overcome this problem is by injecting special kinds of bacteria into the tumors. These bacteria have been genetically changed to remove the chemicals that are poisonous to humans, but are still able to cause tumor cells to break down and die. The idea is that these bacteria may be able to assist chemotherapy drugs in fighting cancer. The goal of this clinical research study is to find the highest tolerable dose of one of these bacterial therapies (Clostridium novyi-NT spores) that can be given in combination with pembrolizumab to patients with advanced solid tumors. The safety of this drug will also be studied, as well as whether it can help to control the disease. This is an investigational study. Clostridium novyi-NT is not FDA approved or commercially available. It is currently being used for research purposes only. Pembrolizumab is FDA approved for the treatment of melanoma and different types of head and neck and non-small cell lung cancers. It is investigational to use these drugs in combination with each other in various types of advanced cancers. The study doctor can describe how the study drugs are designed to work. Up to 18 participants will be enrolled in this study. All will take part at MD Anderson.