Filgrastim, Cladribine, Cytarabine, and Mitoxantrone With Sorafenib in Treating Patients With Newly-Diagnosed, Acute Myeloid Leukemia or High-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome

OUTLINE: This is a phase I, dose-escalation study of mitoxantrone and sorafenib followed by a phase II study. INDUCTION: Patients receive mitoxantrone intravenously (IV) over 60 minutes on days 1-3 and sorafenib orally (PO) twice daily (BID) on days 10-19 in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients also receive filgrastim subcutaneously (SC) once daily (QD) on days 0-5, cladribine IV QD over 2 hours on days 1-5, and cytarabine IV QD over 2 hours on days 1-5 in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients achieving partial remission (including MRD positive \[pos\] CR, CR with incomplete platelet recovery \[CRp\], and CR with incomplete count recovery \[CRi\]) or persistent AML may receive up to 2 cycles of induction therapy per the discretion of the treating physician. POST-REMISSION: Patients receive sorafenib PO BID on days 8-27 or 3 days prior to next cycle of treatment, whichever occurs first. Patients also receive filgrastim subcutaneously SC QD on days 0-5, cladribine IV QD over 2 hours on days 1-5, and cytarabine IV QD over 2 hours on days 1-5 in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients achieving MRDneg CR may receive up to 4 cycles of post-remission therapy. Patients achieving disease response (MRDpos CR, CRi/CRp, or persistent disease) may receive up to two induction cycles and 1 cycle of post-remission therapy with mitoxantrone omitted in cycle 3. If they then enter MRDneg CR, they can proceed with up to a total of 4 cycles of post-remission therapy. MAINTENANCE THERAPY: Patients achieving MRDneg CR may receive maintenance therapy of sorafenib PO BID for up to 1 year. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 3 months for up to 5 years.