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Psychosocial Needs and Exploration of Online Support for Patients With Mesothelioma

Purpose: The aim of this study is to learn about how mesothelioma affects patients’ emotional and physical well-being. Also, the investigators would like to learn more about what patients need and how they deal with this illness. This information can help us find ways to lessen physical and emotional strains. Part of the study tests an alternate way of giving emotional support through the Internet. By providing support online, patients can participate in the comfort of their home.

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Ph 2/3 Study in Subjects With MPM w/Low ASS 1 Expression to Assess ADI-PEG 20 With Pemetrexed and Cisplatin (ATOMIC)

Purpose:This is a study of ADI-PEG 20 (pegylated arginine deiminase), an arginine degrading enzyme versus placebo in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma with low argininosuccinate synthetase 1 expression. Malignant pleural mesothelioma have been found to require arginine, an amino acid. Thus the hypothesis is that by restricting arginine with ADI-PEG 20, the malignant pleural mesothelioma cells will starve and die.

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Concurrent Pemetrexed/Cisplatin With Pleural Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy for Patients With Unresectable Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety of combining chemotherapy at different doses with a specific type of radiation therapy delivered to the entire lining of the lung to find out what effects, if any, it has on people. This radiation technique is called pleural intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). IMRT specifically targets the lining of the lung (pleura) where the cancer is and reduces the risk of damaging the lung itself. When given after chemotherapy, pleural IMRT has demonstrated promising results with respect to keeping mesothelioma under control longer. However, the investigators want to determine if giving pleural IMRT at the same time as chemotherapy is safe. If safe, further studies will be done to see if chemotherapy and pleural IMRT given at the same time keeps the tumor under control for a longer period of time than chemotherapy followed by pleural IMRT.

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Genetically Modified T Cells in Treating Patients With Stage III-IV Non-small Cell Lung Cancer or Mesothelioma

Purpose: This phase I/II trial studies the side effects and best dose of genetically modified T cells in treating patients with stage III-IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) or mesothelioma. Many types of cancer cells, including NSCLC and mesothelioma, but not most normal cells, have a protein called Wilms tumor (WT)1 on their surfaces. This study takes a type of immune cell from patients, called T cells, and modifies their genes in the laboratory so that they are programmed to find cells with WT1 and kill them. The T cells are then given back to the patient. Cyclophosphamide and aldesleukin may also stimulate the immune system to attack cancer cells. Giving cyclophosphamide and aldesleukin with laboratory-treated T cells may help the body build an immune response to kill tumor cells.

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Study of the EZH2 Inhibitor Tazemetostat in Malignant Mesothelioma

Purpose: This is a Phase 2, multicenter, open-label, 2-part, single-arm, 2-stage study of tazemetostat 800 mg two times a day (BID) administered orally. Screening of subjects to determine eligibility for the study will be performed within 21 days of the first planned dose of tazemetostat.

In Part 1, 12 subjects with relapsed or refractory malignant mesothelioma regardless of BAP1 status will be treated and undergo pharmacokinetics (PK) blood sample collection after a single tazemetostat 800 mg.

Part 2 will include subjects with BAP1-deficient relapsed or refractory malignant mesothelioma.

Treatment with tazemetostat will continue until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity or withdrawal of consent, or termination of the study. Response assessment will be evaluated after 6 weeks of treatment and then every 12 weeks thereafter while on study.

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A Pilot Window-Of-Opportunity Study of the Anti-PD-1 Antibody Pembrolizumab in Patients With Resectable Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Purpose: This is a single institution, single-arm, window of opportunity pilot trial of pembrolizumab in patients with resectable malignant pleural mesothelioma. All patients will undergo a pretreatment PET/CT scan for clinical staging and a VATS procedure to acquire pretreatment tissue. Three cycles of pembrolizumab will then be administered (200 mg IV every 21 days). A PET/CT scan will then be repeated to assess response to pembrolizumab and then surgical resection will be performed via an extended/pleurectomy decortication at least 4 weeks after the third dose of pembrolizumab. Standard adjuvant chemotherapy consisting of cisplatin and pemetrexed for 4 cycles (every 21 days) will be given starting about 6-8 weeks following surgery, after a new baseline CT scan is obtained. Restaging CT scans will be obtained to assess response after every two cycles of chemotherapy. After the completion of standard chemotherapy, optional adjuvant treatment with pembrolizumab will be given to eligible patients for 1 year post-surgery.

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Intrapleural Photodynamic Therapy in a Multimodal Treatment for Patients With Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MesoPDT)

Purpose: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive tumour with poor prognosis (median survival <13 months), and high resistance to chemotherapy. Extended pleurectomy/decortication (eP/D) is a debulking surgery of MPM but cannot be considered as a curative treatment. Therefore it has been suggested that eP/D may be of interest if combined with intra-operative treatment and adjuvant therapies.

Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) is an innovative treatment based on the rationale that tumour cells, if previously treated with photosensitizing drugs (Photofrin), will die when exposed to light at a particular wavelength. Interestingly PDT might also stimulate anti-tumour immune response through the release of tumour antigens and induced inflammation.


PDT was tested in phase I-II trials for MPM in combination with EPP or eP/D, and chemotherapy. US studies from J Friedberg et al found very promising survival results in MPM when combining eP/D, but not EPP, intra-operative PDT and chemotherapy (cisplatin-pemetrexed), with a median overall survival of 31.7 months.


However, the definitive value of intra-pleural PDT combined to eP/D in the treatment of MPM still need to be validated. The same multimodal treatment has been established in Lille, the French national expert centre for MPM, with the help of our american colleagues. Therefore, this phase II trial proposes to patients to benefit from the combination of eP/D, intra-operative PDT then chemotherapy by cisplatin-pemetrexed and prophylactic radiotherapy.


Primary endpoint is the feasibility for the patients to have the full multimodal treatment of MPM including intrapleural PDT without unacceptable or unexpected grade III-IV toxicities. Secondary endpoints are PFS, OS, ORR, and quality of life. If the feasibility of such treatment would be confirmed in France, a multicentric, randomized trial comparing this experimental treatment vs control arm (same multimodal treatment without PDT) is planned.

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Pembrolizumab in Treating Patients With Malignant Mesothelioma

Purpose:This phase II trial studies how well pembrolizumab works in treating patients with malignant mesothelioma, a cancer of the linings around the lungs (pleura) or abdomen (peritoneum). Monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, work by blocking a protein called programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) which may stimulate an immune response and kill tumor cells.

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