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Study Description

Brief Summary:

The purpose of this study is to test the good and bad effects of the study drugs bortezomib and vorinostat when they are given in combination with chemotherapy commonly used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in infants. For example, adding these drugs could decrease the number of leukemia cells, but it could also cause additional side effects. Bortezomib and vorinostat have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat other cancers in adults, but they have not been approved for treating children with leukemia. With this research, we plan to meet the following goals:

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

• Determine the tolerability of incorporating bortezomib and vorinostat into an ALL chemotherapy backbone for newly diagnosed infants with ALL.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

• Estimate event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) of infants with ALL who are treated with bortezomib and vorinostat in combination with an ALL chemotherapy backbone.
• Measure minimal residual disease (MRD) positivity using both flow cytometry and PCR.
• Compare end of induction, end of consolidation, and end of reinduction MRD levels to Interfant99 (ClinicalTrials.gov registration ID number NCT00015873) participant outcomes.

Detailed Description:

Treatment will consist of 4 main phases: Remission Induction, Consolidation, Reinduction, and Maintenance. High risk patients will receive a reintensification phase prior to transplant in first remission.

REMISSION INDUCTION: Chemotherapy will be given in an attempt to induce the participant's leukemia into remission. Drugs given are intrathecal triple drug treatment with methotrexate, hydrocortisone and Ara-C (ITMHA); dexamethasone; vorinostat; bortezomib; PEG-asparaginase; mitoxantrone; cyclophosphamide; cytarabine; and 6-mercaptopurine.

CONSOLIDATION PHASE: After the participant's blood counts have recovered from Remission Induction, he/she will move to the consolidation phase. This therapy is given to kill any remaining leukemia cells. Drugs given are ITMHA, high-dose methotrexate, and 6-mercaptopurine.

RE-INDUCTION: This phase aims to improve the participant's overall response to therapy by again seeking to bring his/her leukemia into remission. Drugs given are ITMHA, mitoxantrone, peg-asparaginase, dexamethasone, bortezomib, and vorinostat.Participants that achieve MRD negative status following Re-Induction may proceed directly to stem cell transplant (SCT) (SCT not part of this study).

RE-INTENSIFICATION: Participants that remain MRD positive following Consolidation or Reinduction may receive Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell therapy (CART), if available (CART is not part of this study), or proceed to a Reintensification phase then go on to stem cell transplant (SCT).

MAINTENANCE PHASE: Participants with negative MRD after consolidation will skip the re-intensification phase and proceed to receive maintenance therapy to keep the leukemia from returning. Drugs given are ITMHA, dexamethasone, vincristine, 6-mercaptopurine and methotrexate. Each cycle of these drugs lasts 28 days and will be repeated up to 20 times as long as there are no serious side effects.

Inclusion Criteria

• Patient is ≤ 365 days of age at the time of diagnosis.
• Patient has newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or acute undifferentiated leukemia with ≥25% blasts in the bone marrow (M3), with or without extramedullary disease. Patients with T-cell ALL are eligible. Patients with bilineage or biphenotypic acute leukemia are eligible, provided the morphology and immunophenotype are predominantly lymphoid.
• Limited prior therapy, including hydroxyurea for 72 hours or less, systemic glucocorticoids for one week or less, one dose of vincristine, and one dose of intrathecal chemotherapy.
• Written informed consent following Institutional Review Board, NCI, FDA, and Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) Guidelines.

Exclusion Criteria

• Patients with prior therapy, other than therapy specified in the Inclusion Criteria.
• Patients with mature B-cell ALL or acute myelogenous (AML).
• Patients with Down syndrome.
• Inability or unwillingness of legal guardian/representative to give written informed consent.