RATIONALE: Biological therapies use different ways to stimulate the immune system and stop cancer cells from growing. Combining chemotherapy and peripheral stem cell transplantation with biological therapy may kill more cancer cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of biological therapy with sargramostim, interleukin-2, and interferon alfa following chemotherapy and peripheral stem cell transplantation in treating patients who have cancer.

Condition	Treatment or Intervention	Phase
Leukemia Testicular Cancer ovarian epithelial cancer Lymphoma Breast Cancer Multiple Myeloma kidney tumor	Procedure: biological response modifier therapy  Procedure: interferon therapy  Procedure: colony-stimulating factor therapy  Procedure: cytokine therapy  Procedure: interleukin therapy  Drug: interferon alfa  Drug: interleukin-2  Drug: sargramostim	Phase II

Further Study Details: 

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the feasibility of therapy with sargramostim (GM-CSF), interleukin-2 and interferon alfa following high dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell rescue in patients with high risk cancer. II. Determine the effect of this regimen on long-term leukocyte and platelet recovery following high dose chemotherapy and stem cell rescue in these patients. III. Determine the cellular response to this regimen in these patients. IV. Assess progression free and overall survival rates in these patients.

PROTOCOL OUTLINE: This is a dose escalation study of interleukin-2 and interferon alfa. Beginning 14 days after the autologous stem cell transplant, patients receive daily subcutaneous injections of sargramostim (GM-CSF) on days 1-7 and daily intravenous interleukin-2 on days 3-7, followed by 1 week of rest. Patients then receive a subcutaneous injection of interferon alfa three times a week for 3 weeks followed by one more week of rest. Treatment is repeated for four courses. Cohorts of 10 patients each receive escalating doses of interleukin-2 and interferon alfa until a maximum tolerated dose (MTD) is determined. The MTD is defined as the dose at which no more than 3 of 10 patients experience dose limiting toxicity. Intrapatient dose escalation occurs in courses 2-4, in the absence of dose limiting toxicity.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A maximum of 40 patients will be accrued for this study.

Criteria

PROTOCOL ENTRY CRITERIA:

--Disease Characteristics--

• Diagnosis of one of the following cancers and undergoing high dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell rescue (ASCR): Metastatic breast cancer; Multiple myeloma; Hodgkin's disease; Recurrent or refractory low, intermediate, or high grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; Acute myelogenous leukemia beyond first remission; Acute lymphoblastic leukemia beyond first remission; Ovarian cancer; Refractory malignancy and measurable or evaluable disease (at time of ASCR)
• Hormone receptor status: Not specified

[A new classification scheme for adult non-Hodgkin's lymphoma has been adopted by PDQ. The terminology of "indolent" or "aggressive" lymphoma will replace the former terminology of "low", "intermediate", or "high" grade lymphoma. However, this protocol uses the former terminology.]

--Prior/Concurrent Therapy--

• Biologic therapy: See Disease Characteristics
• Chemotherapy: See Disease Characteristics
• Endocrine therapy: Not specified
• Radiotherapy: Not specified
• Surgery: Not specified

--Patient Characteristics--

• Age: Not specified
• Menopausal status: Not specified
• Performance status: Not specified
• Hematopoietic: Not specified
• Hepatic: Not specified
• Renal: Not specified

Illinois
      Midwestern Regional Medical Center, Zion,  Illinois,  60099,  United States

Study chairs or principal investigators

Anastasios Raptis,  Study Chair,  Midwestern Regional Medical Center   

Study ID Numbers:  CDR0000066418; MRMC-CTCA-9801; NCI-V98-1449
Record last reviewed:  December 2003
Last Updated:  October 13, 2004
Record first received:  November 1, 1999
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:  NCT00003408
Health Authority: Unspecified
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on 2005-04-08