Oncology (Medical)

Below are current clinical trials.

Filter this list of studies by location, status and more.

1. A Study to Evaluate Bleomycin, Carboplatin, Etoposide, or Cisplatin in Treating Pediatric and Adult Patients with Germ Cell Tumors

   Rochester, Minn.

   The purpose of this study is to evaluate how well bleomycin, carboplatin, etoposide, or cisplatin work in treating pediatric and adult patients with germ cell tumors. Active surveillance may help doctors to monitor subjects with low risk germ cell tumors after their tumor is removed. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as bleomycin, carboplatin, etoposide, and cisplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading.

2. A Study of a New Way to Treat Children and Young Adults With a Brain Tumor Called NGGCT

   Rochester, Minn.

   The purpose of this study is to monitor outcome to ensure that children and young adults with localized central nervous system (CNS) non-germinomatous germ cell tumors (NGGCT) treated with Induction chemotherapy followed by response evaluation and whole ventricular + spinal canal irradiation (WVSCI) will maintain the excellent 2-year progression free survival (PFS) rate as compared to ACNS0122. Also, to improve disease control by decreasing the number of spinal relapses for patients who achieve a complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) and receive WVSCI as compared to whole ventricular radiation on ACNS1123.

3. Long-Term Follow-Up of Patients Who Have Participated in Children's Oncology Group Studies

   Rochester, Minn.

   This clinical trial is studying long-term follow-up in patients who are or have participated in Children's Oncology Group studies. Developing a way to track patients enrolled in Children's Oncology Group studies will help doctors gather long-term follow-up information and may help the study of cancer in the future.

4. A Study to Assess Cisplatin and Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Children and Young Adults with Hepatoblastoma or Liver Cancer After Surgery

   Rochester, Minn.

   The purpose of this study is to determine how well cisplatin and combination chemotherapy works in treating children and young adults with hepatoblastoma or liver cancer after surgery. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as cisplatin, doxorubicin, fluorouracil, vincristine sulfate, carboplatin, etoposide, irinotecan, sorafenib, gemcitabine and oxaliplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Giving combination chemotherapy after surgery may kill more tumor cells.

5. Innovative CAR-TIL immunotherapy against melanoma

   Jacksonville, Fla.

   The chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is a revolutionary cellular immunotherapy strategy that has transformed the treatment of B cell malignancies by engineering T cells to recognize B cell specific tumor markers; however, attempts to treat solid tumors with CAR T-cells have identified unique challenges that have rendered CAR T cells less effective against these tumors. Conventional CARs are designed to target tumor-associated antigens, but antigenic heterogeneity and the variable nature of surface antigen expression provide escape mechanisms for solid tumors from CAR T-cell attack. [1, 2] The solid tumor stroma acts as an immunosuppressive cloud that impedes the homing of peripheral CAR T-cells into the tumor microenvironment (TME). The hostile TME can also drive CAR T-cells to functional exhaustion and metabolic dysfunction, thus blunting the therapeutic efficacy of CAR T-cells.[3] Oncolytic viruses or radiation that generate local inflammation in the TME have been shown to promote T cell homing and infiltration [4] but do not address the exhaustion of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). The PD-1/PD-L1 cascade allows tumors to evade the immune system by suppressing T cell function within the TME. [5, 6] An ideal adoptive cellular therapy must possess the ability to not only return to the site of the tumor but must also retain cytotoxic potential after a recognition event. We present here a CAR design that allows PD-1 to recognize PD-L1 on the tumor; however, the intracellular CAR design is one that results in T cell activation as opposed to inhibition. We hypothesize that targeting melanoma with a PD-1 (MC9324) CAR TIL therapy would capitalize on the tumor homing machinery of the TIL to drive the CAR TIL to the tumor where engagement of the PD-1 domain of the CAR with PD-L1 on the tumor cell would result in T cell cytotoxic killing.

6. A Study to See if the Depth of Tumor Invasion of Esophageal Carcinoma Predicts Lymph Node Involvement and Cancer Free Survival

   Rochester, Minn.

   The purpose of this study is to see if different depths of submucosal tumor invasion in esophageal cancer can predict lymph node involvement and survival.

7. Patient Derived Preclinical Models

   Rochester, Minn.

   The objective of this study is to collect tumor specimens (tumor tissues, matched normal tissue when possible, and 50 mL of blood) that may inform cancer biology to eventually improve outcomes for patients with cancer. Additionally, relevant specimens that were previously collected under an IRB approved protocol (13-000942), will be used with approval of the PI of that protocol and patient consent for participation in this protocol.

   The collected tissue specimens will be used to develop preclinical models; i.e., cell lines, patient derived micro-cancer models as well as patient-derived xenograft models. In this study we may profile tumors using genomic and/or proteomic approaches to identify targetable alterations in tumor tissue from patients. To assure that the derived cell lines and micro-cancer models have not been cross contaminated during development with other models in development, DNA sequencing may be used. Using these preclinical models, we will test new therapies in vitro, or in vivo in mice in order to identify novel therapeutics as well as interrogate genes for their role in tumor biology. Guidance for molecular targeted therapy will involve gene analysis of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Results from these studies may provide the rationale for the design of future novel clinical trials. The evaluation of these preclinical models may lead to predictive value related to patient response to therapy as well as clinical trials. With consent, these models may be shared with other investigators internal or external to Mayo Clinic.

8. ALPN-202 With PD-1 Inhibition in Advanced Malignancies

   Rochester, Minn., Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz., Jacksonville, Fla.

   The purpose of this study is to evaluate ALPN-202 with PD-1 inhibition to treat adults with advanced solid tumors or lymphoma.

9. A Study to Assess Dynamic Changes in Plasma Proteome to Identify Early Detection and Treatment Response Biomarkers for HGSOC

   Rochester, Minn.

   This study aims to identify candidate High Grade Serous Cancer (HGSC) early detection and chemotherapy treatment response biomarkers.  For the purpose of this study we define high grade serous cancers to include invasive cancers arising in the ovary and/or fallopian tubes (FT).  Using mass spectrometry we will deeply profile and quantitate dynamic changes in the plasma proteome and N-gylcocapture sub-proteome that occur as a consequence of surgical debulking and platinum-based chemotherapy.  

10. A Study to Evaluate Personalized Molecular Marker and Immunoprofiling to Transform Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment

    Jacksonville, Fla.

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether profiling aggressive tumors for molecular alterations, together with drug testing in patient-derived 3D models, can provide crucial information for the identification of specific therapeutic targets. Additionally, immunoprofiling of microcancer model systems is crucially necessary data to enable prediction of immunotherapeutic efficacy. We postulate that our innovative approach will establish much needed immune microenvironment information and facilitate the identification of specific sensitivity profiles and biomarker signatures that correlate response to targeted agents (or combinations) with particular tumor profiles.