Open Label Phase I Study To Evaluate the Safety of Combination Therapy With AZT and Interferon-Beta in Patients With AIDS Related Kaposi's Sarcoma

To determine the highest tolerated dose of the safety and tolerance of interferon beta (IFN-B) when it is given at the same time as zidovudine (AZT) to patients with early AIDS related Kaposi's sarcoma. In addition, the studies will determine preliminary data on response, immune function, and subcutaneous absorption.

IFN-B has demonstrated a dose-dependent ability to suppress the replication of HIV in the test tube. In addition, previous studies have shown AZT to be an effective inhibitor of HIV reverse transcriptase; Phase I and II study benefits of AZT treatment include increased objective clinical improvement, decreased mortality rate, and decreased incidence of opportunistic infections. Long-term AZT use, however, presents possible limitations secondary to intolerance. This study, therefore, will investigate the potential antiviral activities of a combination of IFN-B and AZT to determine the safety and efficacy of such treatment in patients with AIDS related Kaposi's sarcoma. It is believed that combination drug therapy consisting of low doses of each drug will reduce the potential of toxicity, treatment failures, and disease recurrences resulting from drug-resistant virus mutants.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Detailed Description

IFN-B has demonstrated a dose-dependent ability to suppress the replication of HIV in the test tube. In addition, previous studies have shown AZT to be an effective inhibitor of HIV reverse transcriptase; Phase I and II study benefits of AZT treatment include increased objective clinical improvement, decreased mortality rate, and decreased incidence of opportunistic infections. Long-term AZT use, however, presents possible limitations secondary to intolerance. This study, therefore, will investigate the potential antiviral activities of a combination of IFN-B and AZT to determine the safety and efficacy of such treatment in patients with AIDS related Kaposi's sarcoma. It is believed that combination drug therapy consisting of low doses of each drug will reduce the potential of toxicity, treatment failures, and disease recurrences resulting from drug-resistant virus mutants.

Patients undergo evaluations to determine the extent of their disease and the status of their immune system. Patients then receive IFN-B subcutaneously once a day at one of three different dose levels. Patients also take AZT at 1 of 2 doses. The first 12 patients are treated with the lower dose of AZT. The first 4 patients are entered at level 1 of IFN-B. If no dose-limiting toxicity is seen in these 4 patients after 2 weeks of therapy, 4 patients are then enrolled at level 2 of IFN-B. The study proceeds in this manner until the highest tolerated dose or level 3 is reached. If both drugs are tolerated, patients then remain on both medications as long as they continue to tolerate the medications and show some improvement in either antiviral response, immune response, or clinical response for as long as 24 weeks. The initial three doses of IFN-B are given to each patient at the study site during which time the patient is trained to self-administer the IFN-B. Patients are then seen weekly for 4 months and every 2 weeks thereafter.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment

36

Phase

  • 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

    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90095
        • UCLA CARE Ctr
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90033
        • Los Angeles County - USC Med Ctr
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90033
        • USC School of Medicine / Norris Cancer Hosp
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
        • Northwestern Univ Med School

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

Ages Eligible for Study

12 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria

Concurrent Treatment:

Allowed:

  • Local radiotherapy or laser therapy to cosmetically apparent Kaposi's lesions, provided the dose to any one lesion does not exceed 3000 gray and the total surface area of all lesions treated does not exceed 10 cm2 during the course of the trial.

Patients must demonstrate the following clinical and laboratory findings:

  • Positive for HIV by federally licensed ELISA test.
  • Acceptable bone marrow function.
  • Acceptable renal function.
  • Acceptable hepatic function.

Exclusion Criteria

Concurrent Medication:

Excluded:

  • Other potentially antiretroviral compounds.

Patients will be excluded from the study for the following reasons:

  • Concurrent, active opportunistic infections requiring therapy.
  • Extensive Kaposi's sarcoma with more than 100 cutaneous lesions, requiring systemic chemotherapy, prior treatment with more than one chemotherapy regimen, excluding intralesional therapy, or symptomatic visceral Kaposi's sarcoma.
  • Evidence of clinically significant cardiac dysfunction (New York Heart Association grade III or IV).
  • History of malignant neoplasms other than nonmelanomatous skin cancer or cancer in situ of the cervix.
  • Proteinuria of 2+ or greater and/or 24-hour urine protein of greater than 1.

Prior Medication:

Excluded:

  • More than one chemotherapy regimen for Kaposi's sarcoma.
  • Any interferon preparation or zidovudine (AZT).
  • Excluded within 30 days of study entry:
  • Other immunomodifiers.
  • Acyclovir.
  • Other investigational drugs.
  • Excluded within 60 days of study entry:
  • Cytotoxic therapy.

Patients may not have any of the following diseases or symptoms:

  • Development of an AIDS-defining opportunistic infection, other than oral thrush or localized zoster.
  • Non-Kaposi's sarcoma, AIDS-defining malignancy.

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
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Study Chair: S Miles

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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 Completion (Actual)

July 1, 1991

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 2, 1999

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 30, 2001

First Posted (Estimate)

August 31, 2001

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 2, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 26, 2021

Last Verified

October 1, 2021

More Information

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.

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