View clinical trials related to Medullary Thyroid Cancer (MTC).
Filter by:Background: Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a tumor of the thyroid gland. Surgery is the only current treatment to cure it. The drug pembrolizumab (MK-3475) is a new type of cancer therapy. It works by allowing the immune system to detect and kill tumor cells. Objective: To test how pembrolizumab affects people with MTC and if it can offer them clinical benefit. Eligibility: People ages 18 and older with MTC Patients who have recurrent or metastatic MTC, for whom surgery is not a curative option Patients with some imaging evidence of MTC Patients with minimal symptoms related to MTC Design: Participants will be screened with: - Medical history - Physical exam - Blood, urine, and heart tests - Computed tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): They lie in a machine that takes pictures of the body. - Bone scan Participants will be put in a group based on their treatment history: - Group 1 if they have had an immune stimulating cancer vaccine - Group 2 if they have had no vaccine Participants will receive the study drug as a 30-minute intravenous (IV) infusion every 3 weeks. Treatment will continue for up to 2 years as long as they tolerate it and their disease does not get worse. Participants will have physical exams and blood tests on the day of each infusion. They will have CT and bone scans every 3 months. Participants may save biopsies before treatment and after starting treatment. Participants will have a final visit 3-4 weeks after stopping treatment. This will include a physical exam and blood and heart tests. After this study, participants can join a long-term follow-up study.
Background: - GI-6207 is an experimental cancer vaccine made with baker's yeast. The yeast has been modified to help the immune system target a protein called CEA. CEA is found on the surface of some kinds of tumor cells, including thyroid cancer cells. Researchers want to see if GI-6207 can encourage the body's immune system to attack and kill tumor cells that contain the CEA protein. They will test to see whether this vaccine is a safe and effective treatment for medullary thyroid cancer that has not responded to earlier treatments. Objectives: - To test the safety and effectiveness of the GI-6207 vaccine for advanced medullary thyroid cancer. Eligibility: - Individuals at least 18 years of age who have medullary thyroid cancer that has not responded to earlier treatments. Design: - Participants will be screened with a physical exam and medical history. They will provide blood and tumor samples and have an imaging study of the neck and chest. They will also have a skin test to make sure that they are not allergic to the yeast in the vaccine. - Participants will be divided into two groups. One group will start to take GI-6207 immediately for 1 year. The second group will have 6 months of monitoring and tests with no vaccine, and then will take GI-6207 for 1 year. - GI-6207 will be given every other week for the first seven visits (about 3 months), and then monthly for the remaining year of treatment. It will be given as injections beneath the arm and in the upper thigh. These locations will help the vaccine enter the lymph nodes and reach the immune system more quickly. - Participants will be monitored with frequent blood and urine tests and imaging studies. - Participants will have regular follow-up visits after their year of study vaccines.
For the treatment of thyroid cancer with the so called targeted therapy the angiogenesis pathway has several potential targets. The Receptors for Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and especially VEGFR-2 is considered to be crucial for the initiation of the formation as well as the maintenance of tumor vasculature. In thyroid cancer these VEGF receptors (VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2), VEGF itself and receptors of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and for the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) are often overexpressed. Other cells as pericytes and smooth muscle cells that are also involved in tumor angiogenesis express these receptors as well. Inhibitors of the VEGFR or PDGFR pathway have been tested in thyroid cancer with positive results. However there is no treatment that is generally considered as standard of care for patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) or medullar thyroid cancer (MTC) who have progressed on one line of therapy. The classical cytotoxic chemotherapy has not shown a clinically meaningful benefit yet. Nintedanib is a triple angiogenesis inhibitor which inhibits receptors of VEGF, FGF and PDGF. Therefore it might act not only on endothelial cells but also on pericytes and smooth muscle cells. Nintedanib also interacts with other kinases such as RET. Because of this multi-kinase activity rationale exists to investigate the effect in MTC and DTC. Because it targets these three major angiogenesis signaling pathways it might prevent further tumor growth and related tumor escape mechanisms. Therefore nintedanib may be active in patients who have progressed on agents that target only one pathway.