Clinical Trial Finder

Inclusion Criteria:

• - Patients will have histologically proven intracranial glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) or gliosarcoma (GS) - Diagnosis will have been established by biopsy or resection within 4 weeks prior to registration.

• - Patients must not have received previous radiotherapy to the brain.

• - Patients must not have received cytotoxic drug therapy, non-cytotoxic drug therapy, or experimental drug therapy directed against the brain tumor; patients who received Gliadel wafers will be excluded; patients may have received or be receiving corticosteroids, non-EIAEDs, analgesics, and other drugs to treat symptoms or prevent complications.

• - Cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or contrast computed tomography (CT) must have been performed within 21days of study entry; the use of MRI rather than CT is preferred; the same type of scan, i.e., MRI or CT must be used throughout the period of protocol treatment for tumor measurement; if the surgical procedure was a resection, cranial MRI or contrast CT performed with 96 hours of resection is preferred but not required; patients without measurable or assessable disease are eligible.

• - Patients must have a plan to begin partial brain radiotherapy within 5-9 days after beginning R115777, and within 35 days (5 weeks) of the surgical procedure that established the diagnosis; radiotherapy must be given at the Radiation Oncology Department of the registering Adult Brain Tumor Consortium (ABTC) institution; radiotherapy must be given by external beam to a partial brain field in daily fractions of 2.0 Gray (Gy), to a planned total dose to the tumor of 60.0 Gy; stereotactic radiosurgery and brachytherapy will not be allowed.

• - Patients must be willing to forego other drug therapy against the tumor while being treated with R115777 and temozolomide.

• - All patients must sign an informed consent indicating that they are aware of the investigational nature of this study; patients must sign an authorization for the release of their protected health information; patients must be registered with the Adult Brain Tumor Consortium Central Office (ABTC CO) prior to treatment with study drug.

• - A life expectancy > 8 weeks.

• - Patients must have a Karnofsky performance status of >= 60.

• - White blood cells (WBC) >= 3,000/ul.

• - Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) >= 1,500/mm^3.

• - Platelet count of >= 100,000/mm^3.

• - Hemoglobin >= 10 gm/dl.

• - Bone marrow function tests must be performed within 14 days prior to registration.

• - Eligibility level for hemoglobin may be reached by transfusion.

• - Serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) < 2 times upper limit of normal (ULN) and the test must be performed within 14 days prior to registration; if above the institutional upper limit of normal but < 2 times institutional upper limit of normal, the decision to initiate temozolomide treatment should carefully consider the benefits and risks for the individual patient.

• - Bilirubin < 2 times ULN and the test must be performed within 14 days prior to registration; if above the institutional upper limit of normal but < 2 times institutional upper limit of normal, the decision to initiate temozolomide treatment should carefully consider the benefits and risks for the individual patient.

• - Creatinine < 1.5 mg/dL before starting therapy and the test must be performed within 14 days prior to registration.

• - Patients must not have any significant medical illnesses that in the investigator's opinion cannot be adequately controlled with appropriate therapy or would compromise the patient's ability to tolerate this therapy; patients must not have any disease that will obscure toxicity or dangerously alter drug metabolism.

• - Patients with a history of any other cancer (except non-melanoma skin cancer or carcinoma in-situ of the cervix), unless in complete remission and off of all therapy for that disease for a minimum of 3 years are ineligible.

• - No exclusion to this study will be based on race; minorities will actively be recruited to participate.

• - Patients must not have active infection.

• - Women must not be pregnant or breast-feeding, and women with reproductive potential must practice adequate contraception.

- Patients must not be on chronic Coumadin therapy for prior medical problems (e.g. cardiac valve prophylaxis); this is due to a presumed interaction with Coumadin and ZARNESTRA leading to a significant increase in international normalized ratio (INR); patients who develop or have recently developed a deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism who are on or will take Coumadin will be allowed to participate; however, the investigator should be prepared to monitor patients INR closely

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

• I. Establish maximum tolerated dose (MTD) for tipifarnib (R115777) in combination with temozolomide with radiation in patients not on enzyme-inducing anti-epileptic drugs (EIAEDs).

• II. To define the safety of R115777 in combination with temozolomide with radiation in this patient population.

• III. To assess for evidence of antitumor activity in this patient population.

OUTLINE: This is a dose-escalation study of tipifarnib. TIPIFARNIB: Patients receive tipifarnib orally (PO) twice daily (BID) on days 1-21. Courses repeat every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. CONCURRENT CHEMOTHERAPY DURING RADIATION THERAPY: Within 5-9 days after starting tipifarnib, patients undergo external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) daily and receive temozolomide PO daily for 6 weeks. POST-RADIATION CHEMOTHERAPY: Beginning at week 10 post-radiation therapy, patients receive temozolomide PO on days 1-5. Treatment repeats every 28 days for 1 year or 12 complete courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 4 months.

Arms

Experimental: Treatment (tipifarnib, EBRT, temozolomide)

TIPIFARNIB: Patients receive tipifarnib PO BID on days 1-21. Courses repeat every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. CONCURRENT CHEMOTHERAPY DURING RADIATION THERAPY: Within 5-9 days after starting tipifarnib, patients undergo EBRT daily and receive temozolomide PO daily for 6 weeks. POST-RADIATION CHEMOTHERAPY: Beginning at week 10 post-radiation therapy, patients receive temozolomide PO on days 1-5. Treatment repeats every 28 days for 1 year or 12 complete courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Interventions

Drug: - Tipifarnib

Given PO

Radiation: - External Beam Radiation Therapy

Undergo EBRT

Drug: - Temozolomide

Given PO

Other: - Laboratory Biomarker Analysis

Correlative studies