Conditions: Adult Acute Megakaryoblastic Leukemia Adult Acute Monoblastic Leukemia Adult Acute Monocytic Leukemia Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13.1q22); CBFB-MYH11 Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Maturation Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Minimal Differentiation Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13.1;q22); CBFB-MYH11 Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); RUNX1-RUNX1T1 Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(9;11)(p22;q23); MLLT3-MLL Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia Without Maturation Adult Acute Myelomonocytic Leukemia Adult Erythroleukemia Adult Pure Erythroid Leukemia Alkylating Agent-Related Acute Myeloid Leukemia Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia Untreated Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 21
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This phase II trial is studying how well tipifarnib works in treating older patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Tipifarnib may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth.

Detailed description:
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To determine the complete remission (CR) rate in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients prospectively selected for tipifarnib (ZARNESTRA) treatment on the basis of a 2-gene signature (RASGRP1:APTX ratio) in bone marrow aspirates.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To determine the median overall and 1-year survival of patients treated with this regimen II. To determine the median relapse-free survival of patients treated with this regimen.

III. To determine the safety of this regimen in these patients IV. To determine the immunophenotypic expression of RASGRP1 on baseline bone marrow blasts and assess correlation with PCR-based detection.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

Patients receive tipifarnib orally twice daily on days 1-21. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Bone marrow aspirate and/or biopsy are collected at baseline and on day 28 of course 1 and 2 for RasGRP1 protein expression analysis by qRT-PCR.

After completion of study therapy, patients are followed up every 30 days.

Arms:
arm 1: Patients receive tipifarnib orally twice daily on days 1-21. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Interventions: intervention 1: Tipifarnib intervention 2: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Given PO intervention 2: Correlative studies

Protocol document: