Conditions: Adult Acute Megakaryoblastic Leukemia (M7) Adult Acute Minimally Differentiated Myeloid Leukemia (M0) Adult Acute Monoblastic Leukemia (M5a) Adult Acute Monocytic Leukemia (M5b) Adult Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia With Maturation (M2) Adult Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia Without Maturation (M1) Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Del(5q) Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22) Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22) Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22) Adult Acute Myelomonocytic Leukemia (M4) Adult Erythroleukemia (M6a) Adult Pure Erythroid Leukemia (M6b) Blastic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Recurrent Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia Untreated Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 2
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of the study is to determine if metformin in combination with cytarabine is safe and effective. Participants in this research study have acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that has come back after initial treatment or has not gone away with initial therapy.There is evidence that metformin directly kills leukemia cells. Laboratory data have also shown that combinations of metformin with cytarabine are more efficient than each agent alone in killing leukemia cells in the laboratory.

Detailed description:
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of metformin (metformin hydrochloride) in combination with cytarabine in relapsed/refractory AML.

II. Define the dose limiting toxicity (DLT) of metformin in combination with cytarabine in relapsed/refractory AML.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Remission rate. II. Overall survival (OS). III. Disease-free survival (DFS). IV. Length of remission.

OUTLINE: This is a dose-escalation study of metformin hydrochloride in combination with Cytarabine.

Patients receive metformin hydrochloride orally (PO) twice daily (BID) on days 1-15 and cytarabine intravenously (IV) over 3 hours BID on days 4-10.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 3 months for 2 years and then every 6 months for 5 years.

Arms:
arm 1: Patients receive metformin hydrochloride orally twice a day on days 1-15 and cytarabine IV over 3 hours twice on days 4-10.

Interventions: intervention 1: metformin hydrochloride intervention 2: cytarabine intervention 3: laboratory biomarker analysis
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Given orally intervention 2: Given IV intervention 3: Correlative studies

Protocol document: