Poly-ICLC in Treating Patients With Recurrent or Progressive Anaplastic Glioma

Inclusion Criteria

• •DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Histologically confirmed intracranial anaplastic glioma, including any of the following subtypes:
• •* Anaplastic astrocytoma
• •* Anaplastic oligodendroglioma
• •* Anaplastic mixed oligoastrocytoma
• •* Other anaplastic gliomas NOTE: Patients with an original histology of low-grade glioma are allowed provided a subsequent histological diagnosis of an anaplastic glioma is made
• •Must have evidence of tumor recurrence or progression by MRI or CT scan\* NOTE: \*Steroid dose must be stable for at least 5 days before scan
• •Prior radiotherapy required
• •* Patients who have had prior interstitial brachytherapy or stereotactic radiosurgery must have confirmation of true progressive disease rather than radiation necrosis by positron-emission tomography, thallium scanning, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, or surgical documentation of disease
• •Relapsed disease
• •* Progression after initial therapy (e.g., radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy)
• •* No more than 3 prior therapies (initial therapy and treatment for no more than 2 prior relapses)
• •* Surgical resection for relapsed disease with no anticancer therapy for up to 12 weeks followed by another surgical resection is considered 1 relapse
• •* For patients who have had prior therapy for a low-grade glioma, the surgical diagnosis of high-grade glioma is considered the first relapse
• •Must be registered in the North American Brain Tumor Consortium Data Management Center database
• •PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Age
• •18 and over
• •Performance status
• •Karnofsky 60-100%
• •Life expectancy
• •More than 8 weeks
• •Hematopoietic
• •WBC at least 3,000/mm\^3
• •Absolute neutrophil count at least 1,500/mm\^3
• •Platelet count at least 100,000/mm\^3
• •Hemoglobin at least 10 g/dL (transfusion allowed)
• •Hepatic
• •Bilirubin less than 2 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• •SGOT less than 2 times ULN
• •Renal
• •Creatinine less than 1.5 mg/dL
• •Other
• •Not pregnant or nursing
• •Negative pregnancy test
• •Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• •No other cancer within the past 3 years except nonmelanoma skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix
• •No active infection
• •No concurrent serious medical illness
• •No significant medical illness that cannot be adequately controlled with therapy or that would preclude tolerability of study drug
• •No disease that would obscure toxicity or dangerously alter drug metabolism
• •PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• •Biologic therapy
• •At least 1 week since prior interferon or thalidomide
• •No prior poly ICLC
• •Chemotherapy
• •See Disease Characteristics
• •At least 2 weeks since prior vincristine
• •At least 3 weeks since prior procarbazine
• •At least 6 weeks since prior nitrosoureas
• •No concurrent chemotherapy
• •Endocrine therapy
• •See Disease Characteristics
• •At least 1 week since prior tamoxifen
• •Radiotherapy
• •See Disease Characteristics
• •At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy
• •Surgery
• •See Disease Characteristics
• •Other
• •Recovered from all prior therapy
• •At least 1 week since other prior noncytotoxic agents (e.g., isotretinoin), excluding radiosensitizers
• •At least 4 weeks since prior cytotoxic therapy
• •At least 4 weeks since prior investigational agents