Clinical Research Directory

Testing Low-Dose Common Chemotherapy (Liposomal Doxorubicin) in Combination With an Anti-Cancer Drug, Peposertib, in Advanced Sarcoma

This phase I trial tests the safety, side effects, and best dose of combination therapy with liposomal doxorubicin and peposertib in treating patients with sarcoma that has spread from where it first started, to other places in the body (metastatic), or cannot be removed by surgery (unresectable) and for which no known cure is available (advanced). Doxorubicin is in a class of medications called anthracyclines. Doxorubicin damages the cell's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and may kill cancer cells. It also blocks a certain enzyme needed for cell division and DNA repair. Liposomal doxorubicin is a form of the anticancer drug doxorubicin that is contained inside very tiny, fat-like particles. Liposomal doxorubicin may have fewer side effects and work better than other forms of the drug. Peposertib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. It may also enhance the activity of chemo- and radiotherapy. There is some pre-clinical evidence in animal models that combining peposertib with liposomal doxorubicin can shrink or stabilize certain types of cancer for longer than either drug alone, but it is not known if this will happen in people. Combination therapy with liposomal doxorubicin and peposertib may be effective in treating patients with advanced sarcoma.

Gene-Modified T Cells With or Without Decitabine in Treating Patients With Advanced Malignancies Expressing NY-ESO-1

This phase I/IIa trial studies the side effects and best dose of gene-modified T cells when given with or without decitabine, and to see how well they work in treating patients with malignancies expressing cancer-testis antigens 1 (NY-ESO-1) gene that have spread to other places in the body (advanced). A T cell is a type of immune cell that can recognize and kill abnormal cells of the body. Placing a modified gene for NY-ESO-1 into the patients' T cells in the laboratory and then giving them back to the patient may help the body build an immune response to kill tumor cells that express NY-ESO-1. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as decitabine, 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. It is not yet known whether giving gene-modified T cells with or without decitabine works better in treating patients with malignancies expressing NY-ESO-1.