Therapy to Treat Ewing's Sarcoma, Rhabdomyosarcoma or Neuroblastoma

Summary

Background: * Pediatric solid tumors (Ewing's sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and neuroblastoma) are often difficult to cure with standard treatment. * Immune therapy using an experimental vaccine made from proteins from the patient's tumor cells may boost the body's immune response against the tumor. * The effects of chemotherapy on the immune system can potentially make immunotherapy more effective if administered soon after completion of chemotherapy. The addition of recombinant human IL-7 (interleukin 7) (rhIL-7 (recombinant human interleukin 7)) may make the immunotherapy more effective. Objectives: -To determine whether immune therapy given after immune suppression can help the body fight the tumor and to determine the safety of the treatment. Eligibility: -Patients with solid tumors, i.e., Ewing's sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma or neuroblastoma whose disease has recurred after treatment or spread beyond the original site Design: * Patients undergo tumor biopsy (removal of a piece of tumor tissue) to collect tumor cells for making a vaccine from proteins in the patient's tumor and apheresis (removal of a quantity of white blood cells) to collect white cells for re-building the immune system after immune therapy. Apheresis is repeated three times during immunotherapy (weeks 8, 14 and 20). * After receiving standard chemotherapy for their tumor (and an additional course of fludarabine and cyclophosphamide to further suppress immunity if needed) patients receive immune therapy in Cohorts A and B. rhIL-7 is given 48 hours before the vaccine, as an injection under the skin in an extremity that will not be used for the vaccine in patients in Cohort B only. You will be watched closely for 6 hours after the rhIL-7 for any signs of reaction. rhIL-7 will be given before vaccine doses #1, #2, #3, and #4. The vaccine is given at study weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12. Each vaccine is given as a total of six separate rhIL-7 followed by injections: three intradermal (like a (tuberculosis) TB test) on one arm or leg and three subcutaneous (like those for insulin injections for diabetes). on the other arm or leg. An anesthetic cream may be used to minimize the discomfort of injections. * Patients' white cells are returned to them by infusion through a vein on the first day of immune therapy. * Imaging studies and immune studies are done at weeks 1, 8 and 20 to determine the response to treatment on the tumor and on the immune system.

Timeline

Start

2007-06-02

Primary completion

2012-08-30

Completion

2018-05-15

Publications

• Background Arndt CA, Crist WM. Common musculoskeletal tumors of childhood and adolescence. N Engl J Med. 1999 Jul 29;341(5):342-52. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199907293410507. No abstract available.
• Background La TH, Meyers PA, Wexler LH, Alektiar KM, Healey JH, Laquaglia MP, Boland PJ, Wolden SL. Radiation therapy for Ewing's sarcoma: results from Memorial Sloan-Kettering in the modern era. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2006 Feb 1;64(2):544-50. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2005.07.299. Epub 2005 Sep 28.
• Background Barker LM, Pendergrass TW, Sanders JE, Hawkins DS. Survival after recurrence of Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors. J Clin Oncol. 2005 Jul 1;23(19):4354-62. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2005.05.105. Epub 2005 Mar 21.

Drugs

Indications