Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Interventional
Official Title: A Clinical Trial Trial of Gemcitabine in Children With Newly-Diagnosed Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)
Brief Summary:
Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) is an aggressive childhood brain tumor that, despite many past clinical trials, has never been shown to respond to chemotherapy. Radiation therapy (RT) is effective in extending life but is not curative; median overall survival is 11 months. It is still unclear why the hundreds of clinical trials involving chemotherapy of DIPG have failed to demonstrate any activity against the tumor. Given that many agents tried in clinical trials cross the blood brain barrier (BBB), it is possible that there are factors specific to DIPG and its location that prevent adequate drug penetration. Gemcitabine has been selected for this study because there is strong evidence of DIPG cell line inhibition in vitro and good BBB penetration. Furthermore, pediatric dosing and toxicity has been established in prior studies of children with relapsed solid tumors and leukemia.
The primary aim of this study is to determine the presence of gemcitabine in childhood DIPG tissue after systemic treatment with the drug. The secondary aim is to quantify the intratumoral gemcitabine concentration after systemic treatment.
Participants in this study will be given a one time IV dose of gemcitabine prior to having standard of care surgery. During surgery biopsies will be obtained for clinical and research purposes along with a blood sample. Because patients will be undergoing this biopsy as part of their standard of care therapy here at Children's Hospital Colorado, this is an optimal time to obtain a tumor biopsy for this study. The biopsy will serve to see if the study drug is penetrating the tumor. Patients will then enter a follow-up period for 30 days post surgery.