Bevacizumab and Combination Chemotherapy Before Surgery in Treating Patients With Locally Advanced Esophageal or Stomach Cancer

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To investigate two-year disease-free survival in patients with resectable esophageal and gastroesophageal (GE) junction cancer treated with perioperative bevacizumab and leucovorin calcium, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX). SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To assess, by pathological examination after surgical resection, complete and partial response to neoadjuvant therapy. II. To characterize overall and progression free survival. III. To compare baseline and post-chemotherapy/bevacizumab tissues for biomarkers predicting response or resistance to this approach. IV. To investigate safety in this setting. OUTLINE: NEOADJUVANT THERAPY: Patients receive bevacizumab intravenously (IV) over 30-90 minutes on day 1. Patients also receive FOLFOX chemotherapy comprising oxaliplatin IV over 2 hours and leucovorin calcium IV over 2 hours on day 1, and fluorouracil IV continuously over 46 hours on days 1-2. Treatment with bevacizumab repeats every 2 weeks for 4 courses and treatment with FOLFOX repeats every 2 weeks for 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. SURGERY: Patients then undergo planned surgical resection 4-6 weeks after 6 courses of chemotherapy and at least 8 weeks since the last dose of bevacizumab. ADJUVANT THERAPY: Beginning 8-10 weeks after surgery, patients receive bevacizumab IV, oxaliplatin IV, leucovorin calcium IV, and fluorouracil IV as in neoadjuvant therapy. Treatment repeats every 2 weeks for 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 4 months for 1 year, every 6 months for 2 years, and then annually thereafter.