PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:~I. To determine the safety of liposome-encapsulated daunorubicin-cytarabine (liposomal cytarabine and daunorubicin [CPX-351]) in combination with gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) in relapsed refractory (R-R) patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and post-hypomethylating agent (post-HMA) failure high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (HR-MDS).~II. To determine the efficacy of liposomal cytarabine and daunorubicin (CPX-351) in combination with gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) in relapsed refractory patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and post-hypomethylating agent (post-HMA) failure high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (HR-MDS).~SECONDARY OBJECTIVE:~I. To determine the preliminary assessment of efficacy by response to revised International Working Group (IWG) criteria and time to response variables including overall survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS) and duration of response (DOR) of patients treated with this combination.~EXPLORATORY OBJECTIVES:~I. To determine the minimal residual disease (MRD) after treatment with this combination and its impact in long-term outcome.~II. To determine the effect of the level of pre-treatment expression of CD33 with response to this combination.~III. To determine the baseline CD33 genotype via CD33 polymorphism study, and its effect on response to this combination.~IV. To determine the effect of this treatment combination on responding patients transitioning to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).~V. To evaluate the effect of the treatment combination on Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) parameters.~OUTLINE:~INDUCTION CYCLE: Patients receive liposome-encapsulated daunorubicin-cytarabine intravenously (IV) over 90 minutes on days 1, 3, and 5 of cycle 1 and days 1 and 3 of cycle 2 and gemtuzumab ozogamicin IV over 120 minutes on day 1. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 2 cycles in the absence of unacceptable toxicity.~CONSOLIDATION CYCLE: Patients receive liposome-encapsulated daunorubicin-cytarabine IV over 90 minutes on days 1 and 3 and gemtuzumab ozogamicin over 120 minutes on day 1. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 2 cycles in the absence of unacceptable toxicity.~MAINTENANCE CYCLE: Patients receive gemtuzumab ozogamicin IV over 120 minutes on day 1. Treatment repeats every 6 weeks for up to 6 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.~After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up for 14 months.
This phase II trial studies the side effects and how well liposome-encapsulated daunorubicin-cytarabine and gemtuzumab ozogamicin work in treating patients with acute myeloid leukemia that has come back (relapsed) or that does not respond to treatment (refractory) or high risk myelodysplastic syndrome. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as liposome-encapsulated daunorubicin-cytarabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Gemtuzumab ozogamicin is a monoclonal antibody, called gemtuzumab, linked to a toxic agent called calicheamicin. Gemtuzumab ozogamicin attached to CD33 positive cancer cells in a targeted way and delivers calicheamicin to kill them. Giving liposome-encapsulated daunorubicin-cytarabine and gemtuzumab ozogamicin together may be an effective treatment for relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia or high risk myelodysplastic syndrome.