Clinical Research Directory

Study of Tovorafenib in High-Grade Glioma and Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)

The goal of this study is to determine the efficacy of the study drugs tovorafenib to treat pediatric and young adult patients newly diagnosed with a high-grade glioma (HGG), including DIPG, that have genetic changes in pathways (MAPK) that this drug targets. The main question the study aims to answer is whether tovorafenib can prolong the life of patients diagnosed with HGG, including DIPG.

A Phase I Study of FZ-AD005 in Patients With High-Grade Glioma (HGG)

An Open Label, Phase I Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics, and Preliminary Antitumor Activity of FZ-AD005 in Patients with HGG, especially in DMG and other Recurrent HGG.

Window Trial of Fluorescently Labeled Nivolumab-IRDye800 (Nivo800) in High Grade Glioma (HGG)

High-grade gliomas (HGGs) are among the most aggressive and treatment-resistant brain tumors. Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors like nivolumab has shown promise, but its efficacy remains variable and poorly understood in this patient population. This clinical trial investigates a novel imaging-enabled formulation of nivolumab-IRDye800 (nivo800) which incorporates a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent dye to enable real-time visualization of drug distribution within tumor tissue.

Bevacizumab Versus Corticosteroids as First-line Treatment in Patients With Symptomatic Cerebral Radiation Necrosis After Radiation for High-grade Glioma or Brain Metastases

Cerebral radiation necrosis (CRN) is a severe complication of high-dose radiation for brain metastases (BM) or glioma, which can potentially cause significant neurologic symptoms leading to serious morbidity and impaired quality of life (QoL). The first-line therapy for symptomatic CRN (sCRN) is corticosteroids, primarily dexamethasone, which often leads to complications, refractory symptoms, and interference with anti-cancer treatment. Since 2017, bevacizumab, an antibody against Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), has been used in a second-line treatment setting for refractory sCRN. A small randomized clinical trial (RCT) has shown that bevacizumab significantly diminishes cerebral edema on MRI and decreases clinical symptoms of sCRN in irradiated glioma patients. Several non-randomized clinical studies demonstrated a beneficial radiological and clinical effect of bevacizumab in patients with sCRN after irradiation for BM. The optimal first-line treatment for sCRN is currently unknown. Effective and safe first-line treatment of sCRN will optimize the patient's well-being and health-related QoL. Furthermore, minimizing corticosteroid use will benefit the clinical treatment options and outcomes of concomitant or future anti-cancer treatment. This phase III multicenter, open-label, randomized clinical trial compares the clinical efficacy of first-line bevacizumab versus standard-of-care dexamethasone for sCRN in patients with high-grade glioma (HGG) or BM.

Fluorescence Enhanced Stereotactic Surgery (FESS)

Histopathological diagnosis is essential for gliomas, but stereotactic biopsy carries significant risks and can fail to provide diagnostic tissue. This study aims to develop and validate an advanced fiber optic system integrated into a standard Nashold biopsy needle. This system combines 5-ALA fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, and ultrasound imaging to provide real-time feedback on tumor tissue and blood vessels. The study involves ex-vivo testing on brain tumor tissues (High Grade Glioma) obtained through surgical resection to validate the system's ability to identify tumor margins and vascular structures, aiming to improve biopsy safety and accuracy.

Injection of Active Allogeneic Natural Killer Cells in Patients With Gliomas

Gliomas are the most common malignant brain tumors, which are often associated with high-grade tumors characterized by an inferior prognosis and low patient survival rates in both children and adults. Surgical removal and tumor resection are the primary treatment approaches for gliomas. In such cases, whole-brain radiation therapy is also employed as a therapeutic option, which itself has significant side effects, and studies have shown limited impact on improving patient survival. Targeted therapy and recently investigated approaches such as targeted therapy have shown some tumor regression, but in most cases, tumor recurrence has been observed after initial regression. Therefore, they have a limited impact on prolonging patient survival. Immunotherapy, particularly immunotherapy with specific immune cells, can effectively identify and eliminate cancer cells and has been utilized as a new approach in the past two decades, especially in cancers where conventional methods have limited success. Among the effective immunotherapy methods, using natural killer cells (NK cells) can be one of the promising approaches. Currently, phase I clinical trials have been conducted by our research group in patients with gliomas.