Brain Cancer clinical trials at UC Irvine

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a commonly used treatment for brain tumors. It is a one-day (or in some cases two day), out-patient procedure during which a high dose of radiation is delivered to small spots in the brain while excluding the surrounding normal brain. Whole brain radiation therapy with hippocampal avoidance (HA-WBRT) is when radiation therapy is given to the whole brain, while trying to decrease the amount of radiation that is delivered to the area of the hippocampus. The hippocampus is a brain structure that is important for memory. Memantine is a drug that is given to help relieve symptoms that can be caused by WBRT, including problems with memory and other mental symptoms. Health Canada, the regulatory body that oversees the use of drugs in Canada, has not approved the sale or use of memantine in combination with WBRT to treat this kind of cancer, although they have allowed its use in this study.

This is an open-label, multicenter, global Phase 2 basket study of entrectinib (RXDX-101) for the treatment of patients with solid tumors that harbor an NTRK1/2/3, ROS1, or ALK gene fusion. Patients will be assigned to different baskets according to tumor type and gene fusion.

The primary purpose of the study is to determine the efficacy of an investigational therapy called DCVax(R)-L in patients with newly diagnosed GBM for whom surgery is indicated. Patients must enter screening at a participating site prior to surgical resection of the tumor. Patients will receive the standard of care, including radiation and Temodar therapy and two out of three will additionally receive DCVax-L, with the remaining one third receiving a placebo. All patients will have the option to receive DCVax-L in a crossover arm upon documented disease progression. (note: DCVax-L when used for patients with brain cancer is sometimes also referred to as DCVax-Brain)