Clinical Research Directory

Lower-Dose Chemoradiation in Treating Patients With Early-Stage Anal Cancer, the DECREASE Study

This phase II trial studies how well lower-dose chemotherapy plus radiation (chemoradiation) therapy works in comparison to standard-dose chemoradiation in treating patients with early-stage anal cancer. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as mitomycin, fluorouracil, and capecitabine, 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. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Giving chemotherapy with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells. This study may help doctors find out if lower-dose chemoradiation is as effective and has fewer side effects than standard-dose chemoradiation, which is the usual approach for treatment of this cancer type.

Multi-Omic Assessment of Squamous Cell Cancers Receiving Systemic Therapy

This is prospective research study which will include patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, esophagus and anal canal starting on first-line platinum based chemotherapy or any line of immunotherapy treatment.This study aims to characterize the dynamic changes in genomic, epigenetic, immune profiling and imaging data during treatment with systemic therapy. Patients will have archived tumor samples requested as well as blood samples collected at up to four time points to analyze these changes. Imaging data will be derived from patients' routine CT scans before and after treatment.

Nivolumab With or Without Ipilimumab in Treating Patients With Refractory Metastatic Anal Canal Cancer

This phase II trial studies how well nivolumab with or without ipilimumab works in treating patients with anal canal cancer that has not responded to previous treatment (refractory) and that has spread from where it first started (primary site) to other places in the body (metastatic). Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as nivolumab and ipilimumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread.