ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT00387920Updated Jan 28, 2014

Sunitinib in Treating Young Patients With Refractory Solid Tumors

A Phase 1 interventional study of sunitinib malate and pharmacological study in Central Nervous System Metastases, Childhood Central Nervous System Choriocarcinoma and Childhood Central Nervous System Embryonal Tumor, sponsored by National Cancer Institute (NCI). Completed at 17 sites in 2 countries. Open to participants aged 2 Years to 21 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2014-01-28.

Sponsored by National Cancer Institute (NCI) · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
35
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
2 Years to 21 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of sunitinib in treating young patients with refractory solid tumors. Sunitinib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for their growth and by blocking blood flow to the tumor.

Read the detailed description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and recommended phase II dose of sunitinib malate in pediatric patients with refractory solid tumors.

II. Determine the toxicity of this regimen in these patients. III. Characterize the pharmacokinetics of this regimen in these patients. IV. Evaluate the tolerability and pharmacokinetic profile of sunitinib malate capsule contents sprinkled over applesauce or yogurt using the recommended phase II dose.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Determine, preliminarily, the antitumor effects of this regimen in these patients.

II. Describe changes in peripheral blood monocyte counts, circulating endothelial cells, and plasma angiogenic factors during treatment with sunitinib malate.

III. Explore changes in tumor vascular permeability using dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients receiving sunitinib malate.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter, dose-escalation study (part A) followed by a pediatric-friendly formulation study (part B).

PART A: Patients receive oral sunitinib malate once daily on days 1-28 days. Treatment repeats every 42 days for up to 18 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Cohorts of 3-6 patients receive escalating doses of sunitinib malate until the MTD is determined. The MTD is defined as the dose preceding that at which 2 of 3 or 2 of 6 patients experience dose-limiting toxicity.

PART B: Patients receive sunitinib malate capsule contents sprinkled over applesauce or yogurt once daily on days 1-28. Treatment repeats every 42 days for up to 18 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After the first course, patients may switch to capsule formulation for convenience.

NOTE: Patients will not receive sunitinib malate on day 2 of the first course to allow for pharmacokinetic testing.

Blood is collected on days 1, 7, 14, 21, and 28 of course 1 for pharmacokinetic studies using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up for 30 days.

02

Conditions studied

  • Central Nervous System Metastases
  • Childhood Central Nervous System Choriocarcinoma
  • Childhood Central Nervous System Embryonal Tumor
  • Childhood Central Nervous System Germ Cell Tumor
  • Childhood Central Nervous System Germinoma
  • Childhood Central Nervous System Mixed Germ Cell Tumor
  • Childhood Central Nervous System Teratoma
  • Childhood Central Nervous System Yolk Sac Tumor
  • Recurrent Childhood Central Nervous System Embryonal Tumor
  • Unspecified Childhood Solid Tumor, Protocol Specific
03

In context

Choriocarcinoma

15 studies on the registry are indexed under Choriocarcinoma; 4 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 35 is below the median of 42 across 11 interventional studies indexed under Choriocarcinoma.

Browse Choriocarcinoma studies →

Lead sponsor

National Cancer Institute (NCI) is the lead sponsor of 3,556 studies on the registry; 336 are open to participants now.

Of its 411 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 373 (91%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
2 Years to 21 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • confirmed solid tumor (not required for patients with intrinsic brain stem tumors or optic pathway gliomas)

    • Recurrent or disease
  • Measurable or evaluable disease
  • No known curative therapy or therapy proven to prolong survival with an acceptable quality of life exists
  • Patients with bone marrow disease are eligible but are not evaluable for hematologic toxicity

    • Must not be refractory to red blood cell or transfusions
  • Primary CNS tumors or known allowed

    • Neurological deficits must have been relatively stable for ≥ 1 week before study enrollment
    • No imaging evidence of prior intracranial hemorrhage
    • No evidence of new CNS hemorrhage on baseline MRI obtained within 14 days before study enrollment (ECHO gradient MRI sequences per institutional guidelines required for evaluation of CNS hemorrhage)

      • The presence of small punctuate CNS hemorrhage on these scans will exclude a patient from participation
  • No known bone marrow metastatic disease
  • No tumors involving the pleural surface
  • performance status (PS) 50-100% (> 10 years of age) OR Lansky PS 50-100% (≤ 10 years of age)
  • ≥ 1,000/mm³*
  • Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm³ (transfusion independent)*
  • ≥ 8.0 g/dL (transfusions allowed)*
  • or radioisotope ≥ 70 mL/min OR creatinine based on age/gender as follows:

    • No greater than 0.8 mg/dL (2 to 5 years of age)
    • No greater than 1 mg/dL (6 to 9 years of age)
    • No greater than 1.2 mg/dL (10 to 12 years of age)
    • No greater than 1.5 mg/dL (male) OR 1.4 mg/dL (female) (13 to 15 years of age)
    • No greater than 1.7 mg/dL (male) OR 1.4 mg/dL (female) (≥ 16 years of age)
  • ≤ 1.5 times (ULN)
  • and AST ≤ 2.5 times ULN (≤ 5 times ULN for liver metastases)
  • Albumin ≥ 2 g/dL
  • or shortening fraction normal
  • interval ≤ 450 msec
  • Amylase ≤ 1.5 times ULN
  • Lipase ≤ 1.5 times ULN
  • Body surface area ≥ 0.5 m² (≥ 0.4 m² for part B)
  • Blood pressure within ULN
  • Not pregnant or nursing
  • Fertile patients must use effective
  • No uncontrolled infection
  • Able to swallow sunitinib malate capsules (part A only)
  • No pre-existing thyroid abnormality (hyper- or hypothyroidism) with unstable thyroid function
  • No prior CNS hemorrhage
  • No history of allergic reaction attributed to sunitinib malate or component of sunitinib malate capsules
  • No allergy to both applesauce and yogurt (part B only)
  • Recovered from prior therapy
  • No prior sunitinib malate
  • No prior anthracycline (any dose)
  • No prior radiotherapy to a radiation field that included the heart(including total body or craniospinal irradiation)
  • At least 3 months since prior stem cell transplantation or rescue (without total-body irradiation) and no evidence of graft-vs-host disease
  • At least 2 weeks since prior local, palliative, small-port radiotherapy (at least 6 months for radiation to ≥ 50% of pelvis)
  • At least 6 weeks since other prior substantial bone marrow radiotherapy
  • At least 3 weeks since prior myelosuppressive therapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas)
  • At least 1 week since prior antineoplastic biologic agents
  • At least 1 week since prior and no concurrent hematopoietic growth factors
  • At least 12 days since prior and no concurrent inducers, including any of the following:

    • Rifampin
    • Rifabutin
    • Carbamazepine
    • Phenobarbital
    • Phenytoin
    • Hypericum perforatum (St. John's wort)
    • Efavirenz
    • Tipranavir
  • At least 7 days since prior and no concurrent CYP3A4 inhibitors, including any of the following:

    • Azole antifungals (e.g., itraconazole or ketoconazole)
    • Clarithromycin
    • Erythromycin
    • Diltiazem
    • Verapamil
    • protease inhibitors (e.g., indinavir, saquinavir, ritonavir, atazanavir, or nelfinavir)
    • Delavirdine
  • No more than 1 concurrent antihypertensive agent
  • No concurrent major surgery
  • No concurrent antithrombotic or antiplatelet agents, including any of the following:

    • Warfarin
    • Heparin
    • Low molecular weight heparin
    • Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin)
    • Ibuprofen
    • Other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
  • No concurrent medication for the treatment of hypertension
  • No other concurrent drugs
  • No other concurrent anticancer agents, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, or biologic therapy
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(19)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Relapsed and refractory

Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Brain metastases

Cancer deposits in the brain from a cancer that started elsewhere in the body (CNS metastases include the spinal cord).

Studies differ: some leave out any brain metastases, some accept ones treated and stable for some weeks. Check what this study allows.

Karnofsky performance status (KPS)

A 0–100 scale of how well someone can carry out everyday activities. 100 is no complaints and no signs of illness; 70 is able to look after yourself but not to work or keep up normal activity; 50 is needing considerable help and frequent medical care.

Studies often ask for 60 or 70 and above. Your doctor gives the score.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)

GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².

Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

LVEF (left ventricular ejection fraction)

The share of blood the heart’s main pumping chamber (the left ventricle) pushes out with each beat, measured by an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) or a MUGA scan. About 50–70% is normal.

QT and QTc

On an ECG, the QT interval is the time the heart’s lower chambers take to activate electrically and recover in each beat. QTc is that time adjusted for heart rate (QTcF by Fridericia’s formula, QTcB by Bazett’s). Some medicines lengthen it, and a long QTc can raise the risk of a dangerous heart rhythm.

The study may name a correction formula and a limit in milliseconds, often around 450–480.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

CYP3A (CYP3A4) inhibitors and inducers

CYP3A is a group of enzymes, mainly CYP3A4, in the liver and gut that break down many medicines. Some medicines, supplements and foods (grapefruit, St John’s wort) slow them down or speed them up, which changes how much of a study drug stays in the body.

Studies list them so they can be avoided or switched; bring a list of everything you take, including supplements.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
35 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Treatment (enzyme inhibitor therapy)

    PART A: Patients receive oral sunitinib malate once daily on days 1-28 days. Treatment repeats every 42 days for up to 18 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. PART B: Patients receive sunitinib malate capsule contents sprinkled over applesauce or yogurt once daily on days 1-28. Treatment repeats every 42 days for up to 18 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After the first course, patients may switch to capsule formulation for convenience.

    Drug: sunitinib malate · Other: pharmacological study · Procedure: dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging · Other: laboratory biomarker analysis

Interventions

  • Given orally

    Also known as: SU11248, sunitinib, Sutent

  • Otherpharmacological study

    Correlative studies

    Also known as: pharmacological studies

  • Proceduredynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging

    Undergo DCE-MRI

    Also known as: DCE-MRI

  • Otherlaboratory biomarker analysis

    Correlative studies

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. MTD and recommended phase II dose

    MTD will be the maximum dose at which fewer than one-third of patients experience dose-limiting toxicity (DLT).

    Time frame: During course 1 of therapy

  2. Adverse events as assessed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 4.0

    Time frame: Weekly during course 1, assessed up to 35 days

  3. Pharmacokinetics of sunitinib malate using liquid spectrometry/mass spectroscopy methods

    Time frame: At baseline and days 1, 7, 14, 21, and 28 of course 1

  4. Tolerability and pharmacokinetic profile of capsule contents sprinkled over applesauce or yogurt

    Time frame: At baseline and days 1, 7, 14, 21, and 28 of course 1

Secondary outcomes

  1. Correlative studies

    The laboratory, radiology, and pathology correlative studies are largely expected to be exploratory. Mean and median values will be reported at each time point for circulating endothelial cells, monocyte count, plasma angiogenic markers, and DCE-MRI vascular permeability. Depending on the distribution of data, either the paired t-test or Wilcoxon signed rank test will be used to evaluate for statistically significant changes in these markers from pre-treatment to post-treatment.

    Time frame: Days 1 and 28 of course 1

07

Study locations

17 sites
  • University of Alabama at Birmingham
    Birmingham, Alabama 35294, United States
  • Childrens Hospital of Orange County
    Orange, California 92868-3874, United States
  • UCSF-Mount Zion
    San Francisco, California 94115, United States
  • University of California San Francisco Medical Center-Parnassus
    San Francisco, California 94143, United States
  • Children's National Medical Center
    Washington, District of Columbia 20010, United States
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
    Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
  • C S Mott Children's Hospital
    Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
  • Washington University School of Medicine
    Saint Louis, Missouri 63110, United States
  • Columbia University Medical Center
    New York, New York 10032, United States
  • Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
    Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, United States
  • Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States
  • Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15224, United States
  • University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
    Dallas, Texas 75390, United States
  • Baylor College of Medicine
    Houston, Texas 77030, United States
  • Seattle Children's Hospital
    Seattle, Washington 98105, United States
  • Hospital for Sick Children
    Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada
  • Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine
    Montreal, Quebec H3T 1C5, Canada
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Wang E, DuBois SG, Wetmore C, Verschuur AC, Khosravan R. Population Pharmacokinetics of Sunitinib and its Active Metabolite SU012662 in Pediatric Patients with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors or Other Solid Tumors. Eur J Drug Metab Pharmacokinet. 2021 May;46(3):343-352. doi: 10.1007/s13318-021-00671-7. Epub 2021 Apr 14. PubMed 33852135 ↗
  • Wang E, DuBois SG, Wetmore C, Khosravan R. Population pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics of sunitinib in pediatric patients with solid tumors. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2020 Aug;86(2):181-192. doi: 10.1007/s00280-020-04106-z. Epub 2020 Jul 4. PubMed 32623479 ↗
09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jan 28, 2014, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00387920
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Oct 13, 2006
Start date
Oct 2006
Primary completion
Sep 2012
Last update
Jan 28, 2014

Study contacts

Steven DuBois
principal investigator · COG Phase I Consortium
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Jan 2014. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Studies of the drug tested here: Sunitinib

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