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 cancer of the esophagus.

Condition	Treatment or Intervention	Phase
stage IV esophageal cancer recurrent esophageal cancer Adenocarcinoma of the Esophagus	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:

• Provide antineoplastons A10 and AS2-1 as treatment for patients with incurable adenocarcinoma of the esophagus.
• Describe the response to, tolerance to, and side effects of this regimen in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is an open-label study.

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 2 months in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients achieving a complete response (CR) continue treatment for at least 8 months beyond CR. Patients achieving a partial response or stable disease continue treatment until disease progression.

Tumors are measured every 2 months for 1 year and then every 3 months for the second year.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: Approximately 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 adenocarcinoma of the esophagus that is unlikely to respond to existing therapy and for which no curative therapy exists
• Meets 1 of the following criteria:
• Metastatic disease
• Not curable with surgery or radiotherapy
• Measurable disease by MRI or CT scan

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:

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

Renal:

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

Cardiovascular:

• No chronic or congestive heart failure
• No uncontrolled hypertension
• No 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 participation
• No medical illness, psychiatric illness, or non-malignant systemic disease that would preclude study treatment
• No active infection

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy:

• At least 4 weeks since prior immunotherapy and recovered

Chemotherapy:

• At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas) and recovered

Endocrine therapy:

• Concurrent steroids allowed

Radiotherapy:

• At least 8 weeks since prior radiotherapy (except in patients with multiple tumors who have received radiotherapy to some of their tumors) and recovered

Surgery:

• Recovered from prior surgery

Other:

• No prior antineoplaston therapy
• Prior cytodifferentiating agents allowed

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:  CDR0000066525; BC-ES-2; NCT00003487
Record last reviewed:  July 2004
Last Updated:  February 7, 2005
Record first received:  November 1, 1999
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:  NCT00003487
Health Authority: United States: Federal Government
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on 2005-04-08