Education and Training

  • Compassionate Use Trial for Unresectable Melanoma With Ipilimumab

    The primary objective of the study is to provide treatment with Ipilimumab to subjects who have serious or immediately life-threatening unresectable Stage III or Stage IV melanoma, who have no alternative treatment options, and whose physicians believe, based upon available data on benefit and risk, that it is appropriate to administer Ipilimumab at a dose of 3 mg/kg induction (with re-induction, if eligible), or for eligible subjects previously enrolled in Ipilimumab studies CA184-042, CA184-078, CA184-087, MDX010-16, or MDX010-20.

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Chemoembolization With or Without Sorafenib Tosylate in Treating Patients With Liver Cancer That Cannot Be Removed by Surgery

    This randomized phase III trial studies chemoembolization and sorafenib tosylate to see how well they work compared with chemoembolization alone in treating patients with liver cancer that cannot be removed by surgery. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as doxorubicin hydrochloride, mitomycin, and cisplatin, 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. Chemoembolization kills tumor cells by carrying drugs directly into blood vessels near the tumor and then blocking the blood flow to allow a higher concentration of the drug to reach the tumor for a longer period of time. Kinase inhibitors, such as sorafenib tosylate may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking the action of an abnormal protein that signals cancer cells to multiply. It is not yet known whether giving chemoembolization together with sorafenib tosylate is more effective than chemoembolization alone in treating patients with liver cancer.

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Combination Chemotherapy With or Without Atezolizumab in Treating Patients With Stage III Colon Cancer and Deficient DNA Mismatch Repair

    This phase III trial studies combination chemotherapy and atezolizumab to see how well it works compared with combination chemotherapy alone in treating patients with stage III colon cancer and deficient deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) mismatch repair. Drugs used in combination chemotherapy, such as oxaliplatin, leucovorin calcium, and fluorouracil, 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. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as atezolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Giving combination chemotherapy with atezolizumab may work better than combination chemotherapy alone in treating patients with colon cancer.

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • A Phase 3, Multi-Center Study of Gemcitabine/Carboplatin, With or Without BSI-201, in Patients With ER-, PR-, and Her2-Negative Metastatic Breast Cancer

    The goal of this study was to determine the effect on overall survival and progression free survival by adding iniparib (BSI-201/SAR240550) to the combination of gemcitabine/carboplatin in adult patients with triple negative breast cancer (estrogen receptor (ER)-negative, progesterone receptor (PR)-negative, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative).

    Based on data generated by BiPar/Sanofi, it is concluded that iniparib does not possess characteristics typical of the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor class. The exact mechanism has not yet been fully elucidated, however based on experiments on tumor cells performed in the laboratory, iniparib is a novel investigational anti-cancer agent that induces gamma-H2AX (a marker of DNA damage) in tumor cell lines, induces cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase in tumor cell lines, and potentiates the cell cycle effects of DNA damaging modalities in tumor cell lines. Investigations into potential targets of iniparib and its metabolites are ongoing.

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Cardiovascular Health in Postpartum Women Diagnosed With Excessive Gestational Weight Gain

    The investigators will test the efficacy of a tailored behavioral lifestyle modification program to support cardiovascular health in postpartum women with excessive gestational weight gain. This program will include a mobile health texting component postpartum to support changes in nutrition and physical activity. The investigators will randomize women into either the control arm (usual care) or the intervention (usual care + mobile health program postpartum). The women will be recruited during their 3rd trimester once they have been identified as gaining too much weight according to the 2009 IOM guidelines during pregnancy.

    Investigator

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Citalopram for Agitation in Alzheimer's Disease

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of citalopram for agitation in Alzheimer's dementia.

    Investigator

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Do Community Cancer Support Groups Reduce Physiological Stress in Women With Primary Breast Cancer?

    Women with primary breast cancer may benefit from participating in supports groups as they cope with treatment and the psychological challenges of survivorship. Studies have documented that these women benefit from support groups run in a university setting; however, no one has documented that they benefit from community cancer support groups. Many community cancer support groups exist and provide service to a large number of women with breast cancer. It is important to know if these groups are providing comparable service to well researched support groups. We conducted this study as the first randomized study of community compared to university-style support groups. Women had a 50/50 chance of being assigned to either a community or a university style support group based on a coin flip. This study took place in two sites The Wellness Community East Bay (Walnut Creek) and San Francisco. Two community groups were studied.

    i) This study evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of two community-based support group interventions for breast cancer patients [The Wellness (TWC) and Cancer Support (CSC) Communities, in the San Francisco area]. We compared them with a type of therapy developed in the university setting (Stanford's Supportive-Expressive group therapy), studied which aspects are most effective, and who benefits the most. We compared these women on change in emotional distress, means of coping with cancer, and social and family support. In addition, change in physiological response to stress was measured using saliva samples.

    ii) We were able to achieve recruitment for 6 of 8 groups proposed. We randomized 72 women in blocks of 12 taking consecutive women per site until we accrued 12 for each group. Of those, 61 women actually attended groups, of those 46 women to date completed at least one follow-up and were available for analysis for this report. We screened 108 women, 16 who were screened out on initial phone contact, 20 women began to go through our baseline interviews and assessments and either decided not to enroll or dropped out before we could compose a group for the second S.F. randomization. Our final two follow-up assessments for our final group in the East Bay are being conducted right now (8 month) and will be conducted in October, 2002 (12 month) so they are not available for assay or analysis for this final report.

    iii) We examined 5 outcome variables for this report and found that women participating in the community groups changed at about the same level over the 4 months of group therapy as the women in the Stanford groups. This was true for depression symptoms, trauma symptoms, social support, self-efficacy, and post-traumatic-growth. These analyses are preliminary until we complete our final follow-up assessments. It is encouraging for the community groups that women benefited at the same rate as they did in the well-researched Stanford groups. Conclusions for this study are somewhat limited because we could not complete the recruitment of our entire sample. However, there is every reason to suppose that community groups are as effective at serving women with primary breast cancer as Stanford's groups though they are based on very different ideas of therapy. It is important to note that all of these groups were led by therapists, and that we may have found other results if the groups had been led by peers or other types of professionals. This study reduces the human and economic cost of breast cancer in California by validating community groups usually offered free to women with breast cancer.

    Investigator

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Brentuximab Vedotin or Crizotinib and Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Newly Diagnosed Stage II-IV Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma

    This partially randomized phase II trial studies how well brentuximab vedotin or crizotinib and combination chemotherapy works in treating patients with newly diagnosed stage II-IV anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Brentuximab vedotin is a monoclonal antibody, called brentuximab, linked to a toxic agent called vedotin. Brentuximab attaches to CD30 positive cancer cells in targeted way and delivers vedotin to kill them. Crizotinib and methotrexate may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. It is not yet known whether brentuximab vedotin and combination chemotherapy is more effective than crizotinib and combination chemotherapy in treating anaplastic large cell lymphoma.

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Bevacizumab and Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma or Natural Killer Cell Neoplasms

    RATIONALE: Monoclonal antibodies, such as bevacizumab, can block cancer growth in different ways. Some block the ability of cancer cells to grow and spread. Others find cancer cells and help kill them or carry cancer-killing substances to them. Bevacizumab may also stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking blood flow to the cancer. Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving bevacizumab together with combination chemotherapy may kill more cancer cells.

    PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving bevacizumab together with several chemotherapy drugs (combination chemotherapy) works in treating patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma or natural killer cell neoplasms.

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Assessment of Pain in People With Thalassemia Who Are Treated With Regular Blood Transfusions

    Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder that can result in mild to severe anemia. Regular blood transfusions, which refresh the healthy red blood cell supply, are one treatment for thalassemia. People with thalassemia often experience pain, but the exact source of pain remains unknown. This study will examine how pain varies during the blood transfusion cycle in people with thalassemia who are treated with regular blood transfusions.

    Investigator

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Dasatinib Followed by Stem Cell Transplant in Treating Older Patients With Newly Diagnosed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

    This phase II clinical trial studies how well dasatinib followed by stem cell transplant works in treating older patients with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Dasatinib may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Giving chemotherapy before a stem cell transplant stops the growth of cancer cells by stopping them from dividing or killing them. Monoclonal antibodies, such as alemtuzumab, may interfere with the ability of cancer cells to grow and spread. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) and giving dasatinib together with chemotherapy may kill more cancer cells.

    Investigator

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Bevacizumab and Intravenous or Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Stage II-III Ovarian Epithelial Cancer, Fallopian Tube Cancer, or Primary Peritoneal Cancer

    This randomized phase III trial studies bevacizumab and intravenous (given into a vein) chemotherapy to see how well they work compared with bevacizumab and intraperitoneal (given into the abdominal cavity) chemotherapy in treating patients with stage II-III ovarian epithelial cancer, fallopian tube cancer, or primary peritoneal cancer. Monoclonal antibodies, such as bevacizumab, can block the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread by blocking the growth of new blood vessels necessary for tumor growth. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as paclitaxel, carboplatin, and cisplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. It is not yet known whether giving bevacizumab together with intravenous chemotherapy is more effective than giving bevacizumab together with intraperitoneal chemotherapy in treating patients with ovarian epithelial cancer, fallopian tube cancer, or primary peritoneal cancer.

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Bone, Immunologic, and Virologic Effects of a Antiretroviral Regimen

    The main purpose of this study was to compare the effects on bones of the following two drug combinations:

    - maraviroc (MVC), emtricitabine (FTC), plus darunavir/ritonavir (DRV/r)

    - tenofovir (TDF) plus emtricitabine (FTC) plus darunavir/ritonavir (DRV/r)

    Additional study objectives were the following:

    - To see how the drug combinations affect the brain and kidneys.

    - To see how well the drug combinations lower the HIV viral load.

    - To see how safe the drug combinations are, how well people are able to take the study drug combinations, and how well their immune systems respond to the study drugs.

    Investigators

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • A Phase III Trial Evaluating Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy for Advanced Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC) Patients

    This study is a multi-center, randomized, open label, Phase III clinical trial for advanced Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma(NPC) Patients.

    Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as gemcitabine and carboplatin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving an infusion of a person's cytotoxic T cells (CTL) that have been treated in the laboratory may help the body build an effective immune response to kill tumor cells. Giving combination chemotherapy together with laboratory-treated T cells may kill more tumor cells. This Phase III trial is to assess if combined gemcitabine-carboplatin (GC) followed by adoptive T-cell therapy would improve clinical outcome for patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). It is also the world's first, and largest, Phase 3 T-cell therapy cancer trial ever conducted, and enrollment is ongoing for 330 patients from 30 hospital centers across Asia and the United States.

    This clinical trial is conducted on the back of a successful Phase 2 NPC trial involving 38 patients at the National Cancer Centre, Singapore. This trial produced the best published 2-year (62.9%), and median overall survival (OS) data (29.9 months) in 35 patients with advanced NPC who received autologous EBV-specific CTL. Kindly see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3978790/ for the Phase 2 publication titled "Adoptive T-cell Transfer and Chemotherapy in the First line treatment of Metastatic and/or Locally Recurrent Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma".

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Altis® 522 Trial - Treatment of Female Stress Urinary Incontinence

    The aim of this postmarket study is to compare the safety and effectiveness of the Altis Single Incision Sling (SIS) to an FDA cleared transobturator and/or retropubic sling through 36 months.

    Investigator

    Now accepting new patients View Details
  • An Investigational Drug, Crizotinib (PF-02341066), Is Being Studied In Tumors, Except Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, That Are Positive For Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK)

    This is a Phase 1 trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of crizotinib in patients with tumors except non-small cell lung cancer that are positive for ALK.

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Compare Bosutinib To Imatinib In Subjects With Newly Diagnosed Chronic Phase Philadelphia Chromosome Positive CML

    Two-arm, randomized, open-label trial designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of bosutinib alone compared to imatinib alone in subjects newly diagnosed with chronic phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). The primary endpoint is cytogenetic response rate at one year.

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Bevacizumab, Cisplatin, Radiation Therapy, and Fluorouracil in Treating Patients With Stage IIB, Stage III, Stage IVA, or Stage IVB Nasopharyngeal Cancer

    This phase II trial is studying how well giving bevacizumab together with cisplatin, radiation therapy, and fluorouracil works in treating patients with stage IIB, stage III, stage IVA, or stage IVB nasopharyngeal cancer. Monoclonal antibodies, such as bevacizumab, can block tumor growth in different ways. Some block the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Others find tumor cells and help kill them or carry tumor-killing substances to them. Bevacizumab may also stop the growth of nasopharyngeal cancer by blocking blood flow to the tumor. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as cisplatin and fluorouracil, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Giving bevacizumab together with chemotherapy and radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells.

    Investigator

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • CD8+ Memory T-Cells as Consolidative Therapy After Donor Non-myeloablative Hematopoietic Cell Transplant in Treating Patients With Leukemia or Lymphoma

    This phase 2 trial studies how well cluster of differentiation 8 (CD8)+ memory T-cells work as a consolidative therapy following a donor non-myeloablative hematopoietic cell transplant in treating patients with leukemia or lymphoma. Giving total lymphoid irradiation and anti-thymocyte globulin before a donor hematopoietic cell transplant helps stop the growth of cells in the bone marrow, including normal blood-forming cells (stem cells) and cancer cells. When the healthy stem cells from a donor are infused into the patient they may help the patient's bone marrow make stem cells, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Sometimes the transplanted cells from a donor can make an immune response against the body's normal cells (called graft-versus-host disease). Giving cyclosporine and mycophenolate mofetil after the transplant may stop this from happening. Once the donated stem cells begin working, the patient's immune system may see the remaining cancer cells as not belonging in the patient's body and destroy them. Giving an infusion of the donor's white blood cells, such as CD8+ memory T-cells, may boost this effect and may be an effective treatment to kill any cancer cells that may be left in the body (consolidative therapy).

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details
  • Biospecimen Analysis in Determining Effects of Chemotherapy on Fertility in Osteosarcoma Survivors

    This research trial studies saliva, semen, and blood samples to determine effects of chemotherapy on fertility in osteosarcoma survivors. Study biospecimen samples from osteosarcoma survivors in the laboratory may help doctors learn whether chemotherapy causes fertility problems and to learn more about the long term effects.

    Not accepting patients at this time View Details