BMS 247550 to Treat Kidney Cancer

Study Summary

This study will examine whether the experimental drug BMS 247550 (Ixabepilone) is an effective treatment for kidney cancer. BMS 247550 belongs to a class of drugs called epothilones that interfere with the ability of cancer cells to divide. In the way they kill cells, they are very similar to a class of compounds known as the taxanes, which include the drug Taxol. Other characteristics of the epothilones, however, enable them to work in cells that are resistant to Taxol. Patients 18 years of age or older with kidney cancer that has not spread to the central nervous system (unless the brain tumor has remained stable for at least six months after surgical or radiation treatment) may be eligible for this study. Pregnant or nursing women may not participate. Candidates are screened with various tests that may include blood and urine tests, electrocardiogram (EKG), and chest x-ray. Computerized tomography (CT) scans or X-rays, and possibly nuclear medicine studies may be done to determine the extent of disease. Participants receive BMS 247550 by a 1-hour infusion into a vein for 5 consecutive days (days 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) of each 21-day treatment cycle. Patients must stay in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) area near Bethesda, Maryland, for 7 to 8 days during the first treatment cycle and for the 5 days of treatment in subsequent cycles. The total number of cycles will vary among patients, depending on their individual clinical situation. The drug dose may be increased gradually in subsequent cycles in patients who can tolerate such increases. In addition, participants undergo the following tests and procedures: * Periodic physical examinations and frequent blood tests * X-ray and other imaging studies to determine if the tumor is responding to the treatment. * Tumor biopsies to confirm the diagnosis or spread of tumor and to examine the reaction of certain proteins in cancer cells to BMS 247550. Two biopsies will be done. For this procedure, a small piece of tu

Primary Outcome

Response rate is the percentage of participants with a response assessed by the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). Complete response (CR) is disappearance of all target lesions, Partial response (PR) is at least a 30% decrease in the sum of the longest diameter (LD) of target lesions,progressive disease (PD) is at least a 20% increase in the sum of the LD of target lesions or the appearance of one or more new lesions, stable disease (SD) is neither sufficient shrinkage to qua

Interventions

• DRUG Diphenhydramine
• DRUG Ranitidine
• DRUG BMS-247550