View clinical trials related to Leukemia.
Filter by:The cause of blood and bone marrow cancers is poorly understood; however, most research focuses on how cancer cells grow and develop. Because the causes of these cancers are unknown, current treatments may be unnecessarily harsh and often do not provide a cure. Identifying the causes of blood cancers would allow for the development of treatments that are more likely to provide a cure. To find the causes of blood and bone marrow cancers, we will look for specific cancer cell abnormalities that are responsible for cancer cell growth. We will then look to see if drugs that can reverse these abnormalities can kill cancer cells.
Dendritic cell therapy is a promising strategy for adjuvant cancer therapy in the setting of minimal residual disease (MRD) to fight off cancer relapse and/or progression. The investigators already performed a phase I safety study in leukemia patients that were in complete remission demonstrating the absence of side effects and feasibility of the therapy. Here, the investigators want to extend on this strategy by studying the clinical efficacy of autologous DC vaccination in patients with acute and chronic myeloid leukemia and myeloma patients. Effects of DC therapy on the immune reactivity towards leukemia cells as well as clinical parameters such molecular MRD monitoring, time to relapse (TTR), progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival(OS) will be studied in vaccinated and non-vaccinated (control) patients. Patients will be vaccinated using their own dendritic cells electroporated with mRNA coding for the full-length Wilms' tumor antigen WT1.
This study will collect tumor samples from people with cancers of the blood, bone marrow, or lymph glands for laboratory study of the biology of these conditions. Such studies contribute to a better understanding of cancer biology and to the development of new treatments. Planned studies include: - Examination of individual cancer cells and to search for differences compared to other types of cancer and normal cells - Examination of the chromosomes and genes in cancer cells and to search for differences compared to other types of cancer and normal cells - Development of sensitive methods to detect small amounts of cancer that remain after treatment - Search for new cancer proteins that might serve as targets for treatment - Investigation of methods to develop cancer vaccines. Patients from >= 1 to 75 years of age with acute lymphocytic leukemia, acute myelogenous leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, chronic myelogenous leukemia, juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and other hematologic malignancies may be eligible for this study. Blood or bone marrow samples will be collected when sampling is required for the patient's medical care. Cells from some individuals will be grown in test tubes, establishing cell lines or in animals, establishing xenograft models. (A xenograft is transplantation of cells of one species to another species.)
The purpose of this study is to obtain tissue samples for ongoing studies regarding transplant outcomes and complications.