Conditions: Adenocarcinoma of the Gastroesophageal Junction Diffuse Adenocarcinoma of the Stomach Intestinal Adenocarcinoma of the Stomach Mixed Adenocarcinoma of the Stomach Recurrent Gastric Cancer Stage IIIA Gastric Cancer Stage IIIB Gastric Cancer Stage IIIC Gastric Cancer Stage IV Gastric Cancer
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 19
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This randomized phase II trial studies how well giving irinotecan hydrochloride with or without alvocidib works in treating patients with advanced stomach or gastroesophageal junction cancer that cannot be removed by surgery. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as irinotecan hydrochloride, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Alvocidib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. It is not yet known whether irinotecan hydrochloride is more effective with or without alvocidib.

Detailed description:
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To examine the antitumor efficacy of irinotecan (irinotecan hydrochloride) followed by flavopiridol (alvocidib) (Arm A) and of irinotecan alone (Arm B) in patients with advanced gastric/ gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma wild type for p53.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To evaluate the safety and toxicity of both study arms in patients with advanced gastric/GEJ adenocarcinoma.

II. To examine other measures of antitumor activity in both study arms, including response rate (in patients with measurable disease) and overall survival.

TERTIARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To evaluate pre- and post-treatment tumor biopsies for p21 and RAD51 homolog (S. cerevisiae) (Rad51) expression in patients who agree to tumor biopsies (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center \[MSKCC\] and Weill-Cornell only).

II. To explore the response to irinotecan and flavopiridol and to irinotecan alone by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) microarray technology on pre- and post-treatment tumor biopsies (MSKCC and Weill-Cornell only).

OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

ARM A: Patients receive irinotecan hydrochloride intravenously (IV) over 30 minutes and alvocidib IV over 1 hour on days 1 and 8. Courses repeat every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

ARM B: Patients receive irinotecan hydrochloride as in Arm A. Courses repeat every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 3 months for 1 year.

Arms:
arm 1: Patients receive irinotecan hydrochloride IV over 30 minutes and alvocidib IV over 1 hour on days 1 and 8. Courses repeat every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. arm 2: Patients receive irinotecan hydrochloride as in Arm A. Courses repeat every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Interventions: intervention 1: alvocidib intervention 2: irinotecan hydrochloride intervention 3: laboratory biomarker analysis
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Given IV intervention 2: Given IV intervention 3: Correlative studies

Protocol document: