Conditions: Myelofibrosis
Keywords: Myelofibrosis Idiopathic Bevacizumab Avastin bone marrow fibrosis bone marrow angiogenesis JAK2
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 13
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Myelofibrosis is the gradual replacement of bone marrow (place where most new blood cells are produced) by fibrous tissue which reduces the body's ability to produce new blood cells and results in the development of chronic anemia (low red blood cell count). One of the main distinctions of myelofibrosis is "extramedullary hematopoiesis", the migration or traveling of the blood-forming cells out of the bones to other parts of the body, such as the liver or spleen, resulting in an enlarged spleen and liver.

There is not a standard treatment for myelofibrosis, therefore there is no medication that is specifically used in the treatment of myelofibrosis. Bevacizumab (Avastin®) targets and stops a growth factor in the body that helps produce the type of fibrous tissue that is gradually replacing the bone marrow in the bones.

The purpose of this study is to find out how safe and effective bevacizumab is in treating myelofibrosis. The investigators also wish to find out important biologic characteristics or features of myelofibrosis (how it works and operates) during the time of study participation through an additional correlative biomarker study (MPD-RC #107). The purpose of the biomarker study is to understand the causes of MPD and to develop improved methods for the diagnosis and treatment of these diseases, while the main study is trying to find out how well bevacizumab will work in treating the disease.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: Use of bevacizumab (Avastin) in the treatment of myelofibrosis.

Interventions: intervention 1: bevacizumab (Avastin)
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: 15 mg/kg of bevacizumab by IV infusion once every 3 weeks (1 cycle) for 12 weeks (4 cycles)

Protocol document: