RATIONALE: Antineoplastons are naturally-occurring substances that may also be made in the laboratory. Antineoplastons may inhibit the growth of cancer cells.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well antineoplaston therapy works in treating children with primitive neuroectodermal tumors that has not responded to standard therapy.

Condition	Treatment or Intervention	Phase
untreated childhood supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumors recurrent childhood supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumors	Drug: antineoplaston A10  Drug: antineoplaston AS2-1  Procedure: alternative product therapy  Procedure: biological response modifier therapy  Procedure: biologically based therapies  Procedure: cancer prevention intervention  Procedure: complementary and alternative therapy  Procedure: differentiation therapy	Phase II

Further Study Details: 

OBJECTIVES:

• Demonstrate the antitumor activity of antineoplastons A10 and AS2-1 in children with primitive neuroectodermal tumors by determining the proportion of patients who experience an objective tumor response.
• Evaluate the adverse effects of and tolerance to this regimen in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is an open-label study.

Patients receive gradually escalating doses of intravenous antineoplaston A10 and antineoplaston AS2-1 6 times a day until the maximum tolerated dose is reached. Treatment continues for at least 2 months in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After 2 months, patients with responding or stable disease may continue treatment.

Tumors are measured every 8 weeks for 2 years, every 3 months for the third and fourth years, every 6 months for the fifth and sixth years, and then annually thereafter.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 20-40 patients will be accrued for this study.

Ages Eligible for Study:  up to  17 Years,  Genders Eligible for Study:  Both

Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed (except if medically contraindicated) incurable primitive neuroectodermal tumor
• Evidence of progressive or recurrent tumor by MRI or CT scan performed within 2 weeks prior to study entry
• Must have received and failed prior standard therapy
• Tumor must be at least 5 mm

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age:

• 6 months to 17 years

Performance status:

• Karnofsky 60-100%

Life expectancy:

• At least 2 months

Hematopoietic:

• WBC at least 2000/mm^3
• Platelet count greater than 50,000/mm^3

Hepatic:

• Bilirubin no greater than 2.5 mg/dL
• SGOT and SGPT no greater than 5 times upper limit of normal
• No hepatic insufficiency

Renal:

• Creatinine no greater than 2.5 mg/dL
• No history of renal conditions that contraindicate high dosages of sodium

Cardiovascular:

• No uncontrolled hypertension
• No severe heart disease
• No history of congestive heart failure
• No other cardiovascular conditions that contraindicate high dosages of sodium

Pulmonary:

• No severe lung disease

Other:

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 4 weeks after study participation
• No serious active infections or fever
• No other serious concomitant disease

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy:

• At least 4 weeks since prior immunotherapy and recovered
• No concurrent immunomodulating agents

Chemotherapy:

• At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas) and recovered
• No concurrent antineoplastic agents

Endocrine therapy:

• Concurrent corticosteroids for cerebral edema allowed (must be on a stable dose for at least 1 week prior to study entry)

Radiotherapy:

• At least 8 weeks since prior radiotherapy and recovered

Surgery:

• Not specified

Other:

• No prior antineoplaston treatment

Texas
      Burzynski Clinic, Houston,  Texas,  77055-6330,  United States; Recruiting

Study chairs or principal investigators

Stanislaw R. Burzynski, MD, PhD,  Study Chair,  Burzynski Research Institute   

Study ID Numbers:  CDR0000066492; BC-BT-12; NCT00003460
Record last reviewed:  July 2004
Last Updated:  February 9, 2005
Record first received:  November 1, 1999
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:  NCT00003460
Health Authority: United States: Federal Government
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on 2005-04-08