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 patients with anaplastic astrocytoma that has not responded to previous treatment.

Condition	Treatment or Intervention	Phase
recurrent adult brain tumor adult anaplastic astrocytoma	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:

• Determine the safety and possible effectiveness of antineoplastons A10 and AS2-1 in patients with incurable anaplastic astrocytoma who experienced disease progression or recurrence or have residual disease after standard therapy.
• Describe response, tolerance to, and side effects of this regimen in these patients.

OUTLINE: Patients receive gradually escalating doses of antineoplaston A10 and antineoplaston AS2-1 by intravenous injection 6 times daily until the maximum tolerated dose is reached.

Treatment continues for at least 3 months in the absence of toxicity and disease progression. Patients achieving complete response (CR) continue treatment for an additional 8 months after reaching CR.

Tumors are measured every 2 months during the first year, every 3 months for the second year, every 3-4 months during the third and fourth years, every 4-6 months during the fifth year, and yearly thereafter.

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

Ages Eligible for Study:  18 Years and above,  Genders Eligible for Study:  Both

Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed incurable anaplastic astrocytoma that has progressed, recurred, or persisted after completion of standard therapy (including radiation therapy)
• Measurable disease by MRI or CT scan
• Tumor must be at least 5 mm
• Must have received prior standard therapy (i.e., radiation therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or cytodifferentiating agent)

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age:

• 18 and over

Performance status:

• Karnofsky 60-100%

Life expectancy:

• At least 2 months

Hematopoietic:

• WBC at least 2000/mm3
• Platelet count at least 50,000/mm3

Hepatic:

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

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 history of congestive heart failure
• No history of other cardiovascular conditions that contraindicate high dosages of sodium

Pulmonary:

• No serious lung disease such as severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Other:

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 4 weeks after study
• No active infection
• No other serious concurrent 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 allowed

Radiotherapy:

• At least 8 weeks since prior radiotherapy and recovered

Surgery:

• Fully recovered from any prior surgery

Other:

• Prior cytodifferentiating agent allowed
• No prior antineoplaston therapy

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:  CDR0000066507; BC-BT-15; NCT00003470
Record last reviewed:  December 1998
Last Updated:  February 7, 2005
Record first received:  November 1, 1999
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:  NCT00003470
Health Authority: United States: Federal Government
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on 2005-04-08