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DFMO as Maintenance Therapy for Molecular High/Very High Risk and Relapsed Medulloblastoma

  • PhasePhase 2
  • StatusRecruiting
  • Planned enrollment118 people
  • Recruiting US sites25
  • SponsorGiselle Sholler
  • RegistryNCT04696029

Recruitment re-checked on ClinicalTrials.gov Oct 30, 2026. Public record; not medical advice.

DFMO as Maintenance Therapy for Molecular High/Very High Risk and Relapsed Medulloblastoma: a one-minute explainerNCT046960291 min

Eligibility

Who can join

The film gives the main points. The full list below is copied from the registry; the study team makes the final decision.

  • AgeNo minimum to 21 Years
  • SexAll
  • Healthy volunteersNo

You may be able to join if

  • Age: 0-21 years of age at diagnosis
  • Pathology All patients must either have a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of medulloblastoma with molecular grouping identified by either Nanostring or methylation profiling.
  • Cohort 1- Molecular High Risk:
  • Metastatic non-MYC amplified Group 3
  • Metastatic Group 4
  • Metastatic non-WNT/non-SHH (Must be non-MYC amplified)
  • Cohort 2- Molecular Very High Risk
  • Metastatic OR MYCN amplified OR TP53 mutant non-infant (>3 yrs) SHH
  • MYC amplified Group 3
  • Non-WNT, non-SHH infant (< 3 yrs)
  • Cohort 3: Relapsed/Refractory Medulloblastoma
  • Pre-enrollment tumor survey:
  • Prior to enrollment on this study, a determination of mandatory disease staging must be performed:
  • Tumor imaging studies including: Brain and spine MRI
  • Lumbar Puncture only if previously positive
  • Bone Marrow aspiration/biopsy only if previously positive
  • This disease assessment is required for eligibility and preferably should be done within 2 weeks prior to first dose of study drug, but must be done within a maximum of 4 weeks before first dose of study drug.
  • Disease Status: Subjects must have no evidence of disease, or stable* residual nonbulky** disease.
  • Stable residual disease defined as non-progression over 2 separate imaging studies at least 6 weeks apart
  • *Non-bulky disease defined as maximal cross-sectional area < 3cm^2 at enrollment. Patients with leptomeningeal disease are allowed to participate on study.
  • Timing from prior therapy:
  • Enrollment (first dose of DFMO) no later than 60 days after last dose of conventional chemotherapy. Patients who have undergone high dose chemotherapy (HDCT) with autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT) are eligible if more than 45 days have elapsed since date of last SCT.
  • Patients must have a Lansky or Karnofsky Performance Scale score of ≥ 50% (see Appendix II) and patients must have a life expectancy of ≥ 2 months.
  • All clinical and laboratory studies for organ functions to determine eligibility must be performed within 7 days prior to first dose of study drug unless otherwise indicated below.
  • Patients must have adequate organ functions at the time of registration:
  • Hematological: Hematological recovery as defined by ANC ≥750/μL, platelets ≥30 (non-transfused x 7 days)
  • Liver: Adequate liver function as defined by AST and ALT <10x upper limit of normal
  • Renal: Adequate renal function defined as (perform one of the following): Creatinine clearance or radioisotope GFR ≥ 70 mL/min/1.73 m2 or a serum creatinine based on age/gender
  • Females of childbearing potential must have a negative pregnancy test. Patients of childbearing potential must agree to use an effective birth control method. Female patients who are lactating must agree to stop breast-feeding.
  • Written informed consent in accordance with institutional and FDA guidelines must be obtained from all subjects (or patients' legal representative).

You cannot join if

  • BSA of <0.25 m2
  • Metastatic disease outside of CNS
  • Relapsed/refractory patients who are radiation-naïve and age 5 years or older at time of enrollment
  • Investigational Drugs: Subjects who are currently receiving another investigational drug are excluded from participation.
  • Anti-cancer Agents: Subjects who are currently receiving other anticancer agents are not eligible. Subjects must have fully recovered from the hematological and bone marrow suppression effects of prior chemotherapy.
  • Infection: Subjects who have an uncontrolled infection are not eligible until the infection is judged to be well controlled in the opinion of the investigator.
  • Subjects who, in the opinion of the investigator, may not be able to comply with the safety monitoring requirements of the study, or in whom compliance is likely to be suboptimal, should be excluded.

The treatment

How it is intended to work

This is how the treatment is meant to work. Whether it helps, and how safe it is, is what this trial is testing.

eflornithine. A difluoromethylated ornithine compound with antineoplastic activity. Eflornithine irreversibly inhibits ornithine decarboxylase, an enzyme required for polyamine biosynthesis, thereby inhibiting the formation and proliferation of tumor cells. Polyamines are involved in nucleosome oligomerization and DNA conformation, creating a chromatin environment that stimulates neoplastic transformation of cells. This agent has been shown to induce apoptosis in leiomyoma cells. NCI Drug Dictionary

Treatments listed in the registry

  • Difluoromethylornithine (Drug): DFMO (difluoromethylornithine is an inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) designated chemically as 2-(difluoromethyl)-DL-ornithine monohydrochloride monohydrate. The dosage form to be used in this study is provided as a convex tablet containing 192 mg eflornithine (equivalent to 250 mg of eflornithine HCl, monohydrate). The tablets are packaged and sealed in opaque white HDPE bottles, and each bottle contains 100 tablets. The DMFO tablets are supplied by USWorldMeds (USWM). The tablets are to be stored at room temperature (20-250C).

The study

Treatment groups

Na · Single Group · masking: None

Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) (Experimental)

study subjects will receive 730 Days of oral difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) at a dose of 2500 mg/m2 BID on each day of study.

Goals

What the study measures

Main goals

  • Number of participants with event free survival (EFS) during study (2 years plus 5 years follow up)

Other goals

  • Length of time that participants experience Overall Survival (OS)
  • Determine the Overall Response Rate (ORR) of Participants using Modified RANO Criteria
  • Number of Participants with Adverse Events as a Measure of Safety and Tolerability
  • Determine amount of DFMO in the CSF at 3 hours post dose

Planned enrollment: 118 (estimated).

Where

Recruiting US sites

  • Arkansas Children's Hospital, Little Rock, Arkansas
  • UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, Oakland, California
  • UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, Sacramento, California
  • Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, California
  • Stanford University, Stanford, California
  • Connecticut Children's Hospital, Hartford, Connecticut
  • Nicklaus Children's Hospital, Miami, Florida
  • Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Orlando, Florida
  • All Children's Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine, St. Petersburg, Florida
  • St. Joseph's Children's Hospital, Tampa, Florida
  • Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, Honolulu, Hawaii
  • Advocate Aurora Research Institute, Chicago, Illinois
  • Kentucky Children's Hospital, Lexington, Kentucky
  • Norton Children's Research Institute/Affiliated with University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky
  • Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, Kansas City, Missouri
  • Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center, St Louis, Missouri
  • Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, New Jersey
  • Levine Children's Hospital, Charlotte, North Carolina
  • Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
  • University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
  • Randall Children's Hospital, Portland, Oregon
  • Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Children's Hospital, Hershey, Pennsylvania
  • Hasbro Children's Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island
  • Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina
  • Dell Children's Blood and Cancer Center, Austin, Texas

1 recruiting sites outside the US. Site status as of Oct 30, 2026. Check the live record before contacting a site.

Sources

Where this comes from

Registry record reviewed as fetched Oct 30, 2026, last updated by the sponsor Aug 11, 2026. Public record; not medical advice.

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