A Phase 1 interventional study of Simvastatin and Cyclophosphamide in Retinoblastoma, Clear Cell Sarcoma and Renal Cell Carcinoma, sponsored by Emory University. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 1 Year to 29 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-04-03.
Sponsored by Emory University · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment
This is a Phase I trial with new experimental drugs such as simvastatin in combination with topotecan and cyclophosphamide in the hopes of finding a drug that may work against tumors that have come back or that have not responded to standard therapy. This study will define toxicity of high dose simvastatin in combination with topotecan and cyclophosphamide and evaluate for cholesterol levels and IL6/STAT3 pathway changes as biomarkers of patient response.
Chemotherapy resistance is a major cause of treatment failure in pediatric solid tumors. STAT3 (Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3) is a transcription factor that promotes tumor proliferation, metastasis and chemotherapy resistance. Pediatric solid tumors such as neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, and central nervous system (CNS) tumors such as glioblastoma and medulloblastoma have aberrant STAT3 signaling. In neuroblastoma, bone marrow production of interleukin 6 (IL-6), a STAT3 activating cytokine, is associated with poor prognosis. Thus STAT3 and its cognate ligand, IL-6, are rational therapeutic targets in pediatric solid and CNS tumors. HMG-CoA (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A) reductase inhibitors, or "statins", lower LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol by inhibiting the rate-limiting step in cholesterol biosynthesis. Pleiotropic properties of statins have been found to not only contribute to lowering the risk of heart disease, but decrease the incidence of cancer as well, leading to their use in clinical trials for adult solid and CNS tumors. Statins have been shown to inhibit IL-6 mediated STAT3 activation to prevent the recruitment of pro-inflammatory cells to injured heart tissue in adult patients. Therefore, the investigators hypothesize that the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, simvastatin, will augment chemotherapy effects to improve survival of patients with refractory or relapsed pediatric solid and CNS tumors. This is a Phase I trial of simvastatin in combination with topotecan and cyclophosphamide for refractory and/or relapsed solid or CNS tumors of childhood, in which the investigators will define toxicity and evaluate cholesterol levels and IL6/STAT3 pathway changes as biomarkers of patient response.
124 studies on the registry are indexed under Retinoblastoma; 23 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 13 is below the median of 30 across 81 interventional studies indexed under Retinoblastoma.
Browse Retinoblastoma studies →Emory University is the lead sponsor of 1,405 studies on the registry; 225 are open to participants now.
Of its 237 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 178 (75%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Subjects must have fully recovered from the acute toxic effects of all prior anti-cancer chemotherapy
Adequate Bone Marrow Function Defined as:
Adequate Renal Function Defined as:
Adequate Liver Function Defined as:
Exclusion Criteria:
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.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.
Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.
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.
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.
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.
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 (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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
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.
After a transplant from a donor, the donor’s immune cells attack the recipient’s body, often the skin, gut or liver.
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.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Metastases
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Biopsy and archival tissue
A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.
Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
GVHD (graft-versus-host disease)
After a transplant from a donor, the donor’s immune cells attack the recipient’s body, often the skin, gut or liver.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
During dose escalation (phase I), standard 3+3 design will be followed.
Drug: Simvastatin · Drug: Cyclophosphamide · Drug: Topotecan · Drug: Myeloid growth factor
The starting dose of simvastatin will be 140 mg/m\^2/dose BID for 21 days for the first group. Dose escalation for subsequent groups will be 180 mg/m\^2/dose BID, 225 mg/m\^2/dose BID, and 290 mg/m\^2/dose BID. If the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) has been exceeded at the first dose level, then the subsequent cohort of subjects will be treated at a dose of 100 mg/m2/dose BID (dose level 0). Simvastatin will be administered orally twice daily, approximately 12 hours apart. Feeding tube (nasogastric tube or gastrostomy tube, NOT a jejunum localized tube) administration is allowed. If a subject vomits a dose of simvastatin, it will not be repeated.
Also known as: zocor
The dose of cyclophosphamide will be fixed at 250 mg/m\^2/dose. Cyclophosphamide will be administered intravenously over 30 minutes once daily for 5 days every 21 days.
Also known as: Cytoxan, Neosar
The dose of topotecan will be fixed at 0.75 mg/m\^2/dose. Topotecan will be administered, after cyclophosphamide, intravenously over 30 minutes once daily for 5 days every 21 days.
Also known as: Hycamtin
Myeloid growth factor (G-CSF or pegylated G-CSF) will be initiated 24-48 hours after the completion of topotecan and cyclophosphamide for all subjects, which would be day 6 or 7. Myeloid growth factor should continue until the absolute neutrophil count is greater than 2,000/mm\^3
Also known as: Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), pegylated granulocyte colony-stimulating factor
Maximum Tolerated Dose (MTD) of Simvastatin
MTD will be the maximum dose at which fewer than one-third of subjects experience dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) during Cycle 1 of therapy.
Time frame: First treatment to toxicity (up to 24 months)
Number of Dose-Limiting Toxicities (DLTs)
DLT will be defined as any of the following events that are possibly, probably, or definitely attributable to study drug: Non-hematological dose-limiting toxicity: Any Grade 3 or 4 non-hematological toxicity (excluding nausea, alanine transaminase (ALT) or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) that returns to baseline or ≤ grade 1 within 7 days of study drug interruption, fever, infection, hypophosphatemia, hypokalemia, hypocalcemia, hypomagnesemia, or creatinine phosphokinase (CPK) elevation that returns to baseline or ≤ grade 1 within 7 days of study drug interruption), Any Grade 2 non-hematological toxicity that persists for ≥ 7 days and is considered sufficiently medically significant or sufficiently intolerable by subjects that it requires treatment interruption, or hematological dose-limiting toxicity, defined as neutropenia or thrombocytopenia that precludes initiation of the next cycle of therapy within 14 days of the scheduled start date.
Time frame: Up to 24 months
Percentage of Participants With Overall Tumor Response (Response Rate)
Response is defined as CR (Complete Response) or PR (Partial Response) per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumor (RECIST criteria). Possible evaluations include: CR: Disappearance of all target lesions. PR: At least a 30% decrease in the size of target lesions. Response rate (%) = (number of patients with CR+PR/number of patients)\*100
Time frame: 24 months
Change in Total Cholesterol Level
Change in serum total cholesterol level after treatment with simvastatin. A decrease from baseline to the end of treatment, a negative value, indicates an improvement.
Time frame: Baseline, 24 months
Change in serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) level
Change in serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) level after treatment with simvastatin. Serum levels of the IL-6 will be assayed using by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Higher levels are typically interpreted as worsening of condition.
Time frame: Baseline, 24 months
Change in soluble interleukin 6 receptor (sIL-6R)
Change in serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) level after treatment with simvastatin. Serum levels of the sIL-6r will be assayed using by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Higher levels are typically interpreted as worsening of condition.
Time frame: Baseline, 24 months
Change in signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT-3) expression
Change in STAT-3 expression after treatment with simvastatin. STAT-3 will be measured using phospho-specific flow cytometry, or phospho-flow.
Time frame: Baseline, 24 months
Change in phospho-STAT3 expression
Change in phospho-STAT3 expression after treatment with simvastatin. Phospho-STAT3 expression will be measured using phospho-specific flow cytometry, or phospho-flow.
Time frame: Baseline, 24 months
This study is completed, as verified in Apr 2020. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Studies of the drugs tested here: Simvastatin · Cyclophosphamide · Topotecan