Thalidomide Plus Interferon Alfa in Treating Patients With Progressive Liver Cancer That Cannot be Surgically Removed

February 8, 2013 updated by: National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Thalidomide for Unresectable Hepatocellular Cancer With Optional Interferon Alpha-2a Upon Disease Progression

Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of thalidomide plus interferon alfa in treating patients who have progressive liver cancer that cannot be surgically removed. Thalidomide may stop the growth of liver cancer by stopping blood flow to the tumor. Interferon alfa may interfere with the growth of the cancer cells. Combining thalidomide and interferon alfa may kill more tumor cells.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

OBJECTIVES:

I. Determine the feasibility and activity of thalidomide in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

II. Evaluate the toxicity of thalidomide in these patients. III. Assess the use of interferon alfa in patients who develop disease progression while being treated with thalidomide.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

Patients receive oral thalidomide once daily. Patients on a stable dose of thalidomide for at least 4 weeks with evidence of progressive disease receive interferon alfa subcutaneously twice daily. Treatment continues in the absence of disease progression after initiation of interferon alfa therapy or unacceptable toxicity.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

38

Phase

  • Phase 2

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
    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10016
        • NYU School of Medicine's Kaplan Comprehensive Cancer Center
      • New York, New York, United States, 10029
        • Mount Sinai School of Medicine

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

  • Histologically confirmed hepatocellular carcinoma OR
  • Diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma based on characteristic mass and alpha-fetoprotein greater than 500 in the setting of known cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis B or C

  • Measurable disease

    • At least 20 mm in one dimension
  • Not amenable to curative surgical resection

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

  • 18 and over

Performance status:

  • ECOG 0-2

Hematopoietic:

  • Absolute neutrophil count greater than 1,200/mm^3
  • Hemoglobin at least 8.0 mg/dL
  • Platelet count at least 25,000/mm^3

Hepatic:

  • Bilirubin no greater than 5 mg/dL
  • Liver function tests no greater than 5 times normal

Renal:

  • Creatinine no greater than 1.5 mg/dL

Other:

  • Not pregnant or nursing
  • Negative pregnancy test

  • Regardless of fertility status:

    • All women (unless they have undergone hysterectomy or have been amenorrheic or postmenopausal for at least 2 years) must use at least 1 highly active method of contraception AND 1 additional effective method of contraception at least 4 weeks before, during, and for at least 4 weeks after study
    • All men (even if they have undergone a successful vasectomy) must use effective barrier contraception during and for at least 4 weeks after study
  • No other medical condition that would preclude study
  • No other prior malignancy in past 5 years except curatively resected basal cell carcinoma of the skin or carcinoma in situ of the cervix

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

  • No more than 1 prior biologic therapy regimen
  • No prior interferon or thalidomide for hepatocellular cancer

Chemotherapy:

  • No more than 1 prior chemotherapy regimen

Other:

  • No concurrent barbiturates or alcohol

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
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Arm I
Patients receive oral thalidomide once daily. Patients on a stable dose of thalidomide for at least 4 weeks with evidence of progressive disease receive interferon alfa subcutaneously twice daily. Treatment continues in the absence of disease progression after initiation of interferon alfa therapy or unacceptable toxicity.
Biological: recombinant interferon alfa
Drug: thalidomide

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Matthew D. Volm, MD, NYU Langone Health

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 Start

August 1, 2000

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2005

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 5, 2000

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 26, 2003

First Posted (Estimate)

January 27, 2003

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

February 11, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 8, 2013

Last Verified

September 1, 2003

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • NCI-2012-02347
  • NYU-9938
  • NCI-101
  • CDR0000068014 (Registry Identifier: PDQ (Physician Data Query))

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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