Azacitidine and Recombinant Interferon Alfa-2b in Treating Patients With Stage III or Stage IV Melanoma or Stage IV Kidney Cancer That Cannot Be Removed By Surgery

May 1, 2013 updated by: National Cancer Institute (NCI)

A Phase 1 Study of 5-azacitidine in Combination With Interferon-Alfa 2B in Unresectable or Metastatic Melanoma and Renal Cell Carcinoma

This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of recombinant interferon alfa-2b when given together with azacitidine in treating patients with stage III or stage IV melanoma or stage IV kidney cancer that cannot be removed by surgery. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as azacitidine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Recombinant interferon alfa-2b may interfere with the growth of tumor cells. Giving azacitidine together with recombinant interferon alfa-2b may kill more tumor cells.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

OBJECTIVES:

I. Determine the adverse event profile and maximum tolerated dose of interferon alfa-2b when combined with azacitidine in patients with unresectable stage III or IV melanoma or unresectable stage IV renal cell carcinoma.

II. Determine the feasibility of this regimen for future phase II trials.

OUTLINE: This is a dose-escalation, multicenter study.

Patients receive azacitidine subcutaneously (SC) once daily on days 1-4 and 15-17 and recombinant interferon alfa-2b SC on days 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, and 26 during course 1. Beginning in course 2 and for all subsequent courses, patients receive azacitidine SC once daily on days 1-3 and 15-17 and interferon alfa-2b SC on days 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, and 26. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 12 total courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Cohorts of 3-6 patients receive escalating doses of interferon alfa-2b until the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) is determined. The MTD is defined as the dose preceding that at which 2 of 6 patients experience dose-limiting toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 2-4 months.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
42

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Connecticut
      • New Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06520-8032
        • Yale University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Histologically confirmed diagnosis of 1 of the following:

    • Melanoma

      • Unresectable stage III disease
      • Stage IV disease

    • Renal cell carcinoma

      • Unresectable and/or stage IV disease
  • Measurable disease

  • No untreated brain metastases or leptomeningeal disease

    • Patients with previously treated brain metastases are eligible provided they have no evidence of progression for ≥ 4 weeks following treatment and do not require steroids
  • Performance status - ECOG 0-2
  • Performance status - Karnofsky 60-100%
  • More than 3 months
  • WBC ≥ 3,000/mm^3
  • Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm^3
  • Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3
  • Hemoglobin ≥ 9.0 g/dL (may be transfused to this level)
  • PT or PTT < 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
  • Bilirubin ≤ 2.0 mg/mL
  • AST and ALT ≤ 3 times ULN (5 times ULN for patients with liver metastases)
  • Albumin ≥ 3.0 g/dL
  • Creatinine ≤ 1.7 mg/dL
  • Creatinine clearance ≥ 50 mL/min
  • No symptomatic congestive heart failure
  • No unstable angina pectoris
  • No ventricular cardiac arrhythmia
  • No myocardial infarction within the past 3 months
  • No dyspnea at rest
  • Not pregnant or nursing
  • Negative pregnancy test
  • Fertile patients must use effective contraception
  • No active gastrointestinal bleeding or ulcer disease
  • No ongoing or active infection
  • No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance
  • No other uncontrolled illness
  • No history of allergic reaction attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to study agents
  • At least 2 weeks since prior immunotherapy
  • Prior adjuvant interferon alfa for metastatic disease or in the adjuvant setting allowed
  • At least 3 weeks since prior cytotoxic agents (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin)
  • See Disease Characteristics
  • At least 2 weeks since prior hormonal therapy
  • At least 1 week since prior and no concurrent steroids
  • At least 3 weeks since prior radiotherapy
  • At least 2 weeks since prior minor surgery
  • At least 3 weeks since prior major surgery
  • Recovered from all prior therapy
  • No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients
  • No other concurrent investigational agents
  • No other concurrent anticancer therapy

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Treatment (chemotherapy, biological therapy)
Patients receive azacitidine SC once daily on days 1-4 and 15-17 and recombinant interferon alfa-2b SC on days 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, and 26 during course 1. Beginning in course 2 and for all subsequent courses, patients receive azacitidine SC once daily on days 1-3 and 15-17 and interferon alfa-2b SC on days 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, and 26. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 12 total courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
Biological: recombinant interferon alfa-2b
Given SC
Other Names:
  • Alfatronol
  • Glucoferon
  • Heberon Alfa
  • IFN alpha-2B
  • Intron A
Drug: amifostine/azacitidine
Given SC

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Adverse event profile of azacitidine and recombinant interferon alfa-2b in patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma and renal cell carcinoma
Time Frame: Continuously throughout study
Graded according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 3.0.
Continuously throughout study
Maximum tolerated dose of recombinant interferon alfa-2b when administered in combination with 5-azacitidine
Time Frame: Course 1 (4 weeks)
Toxicity will be graded according to the NCI CTCAE version 3.0. The MTD is the highest dose level in which < 2 patients of 6 develop first cycle DLT.
Course 1 (4 weeks)
Correlation of promoter methylation with the level of expression of the genes
Time Frame: Day 5 or 8 and 24 or 26 of course 1
Determined by Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and/or RT-PCR. We will use Western blot analysis when antibodies are available and semi-quantitative RT-PCR in cases where antibodies are not available.
Day 5 or 8 and 24 or 26 of course 1

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Response rate of giving recombinant interferon alfa-2b when administered in combination with 5-azacitidine in patients with metastatic melanoma and renal cell carcinoma
Time Frame: Every 8 weeks
Evaluated using the international criteria proposed by the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) Committee.
Every 8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Mario Sznol, Yale University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
July 1, 2005

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
July 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
September 20, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
September 20, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
September 22, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 3, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 1, 2013

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
May 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • NCI-2009-00152
  • YALE HIC#27409
  • YALE-HIC-27409
  • NCI-7317
  • CDR0000441640

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Cookie Settings

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. For more details carefully read our Privacy and Cookies Policy. ...>>>You can change your preferences or withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the cookies from your website or computer as described in the policy. Please accept it and choose your preferences by ticking the corresponding boxes in the "Manage Settings" section below. Please carefully read our Terms of Service before you proceed with using any part of this website.
«Manage Settings