RATIONALE: Learning how often patients experience nausea and vomiting after receiving anti-vomiting medicine and chemotherapy for colorectal cancer may help doctors plan better treatment and improve patients' quality of life. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying delayed nausea and vomiting in patients with colorectal cancer receiving standard anti-vomiting medicine during the first course of chemotherapy.

RATIONALE: Laparoscopic-assisted resection is a less invasive type of surgery for rectal cancer and may have fewer side effects and improve recovery. It is not yet known whether laparoscopic-assisted resection is more effective than open resection in treating patients with rectal cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying laparoscopic-assisted resection to see how well it works compared with open resection in treating patients with stage IIA, stage IIIA, or stage IIIB rectal cancer.

This study is a randomized multi-center trial that will assess the effect of adding SIRT, using SIR-Spheres microspheres, to a standard chemotherapy regimen of FOLFOX as first line therapy in patients with non-resectable liver metastases from primary colorectal adenocarcinoma.

This study is based on the finding that tumor cells that are grown in the laboratory can be modified in such a way that, when injected to the patient, they will stimulate his/her immune response. This approach will be evaluated in patients with colorectal, gastric, ovarian, breast or lung epithelial cancer. Tumor cells grown in the laboratory will be modified to make them stimulatory to the immune system, irradiated to kill them, and injected to the patient eight times at two-week intervals . This protocol is expected to prolong survival of metastatic epithelial cancer patients.

This is a randomized, multicenter study designed to evaluate the progression free survival of the SOL group (S-1, Leucovorin, and Oxaliplatin) compared with the mFOLFOX6 group (5-FU, l-LV and Oxaliplatin) as first-line treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as irinotecan, oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and fluorouracil, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Monoclonal antibodies, such as bevacizumab, can block tumor growth in different ways. Some block the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Others find tumor cells and help kill them or carry tumor-killing substances to them. It is not yet known whether combination chemotherapy is more effective with or without bevacizumab in treating metastatic colorectal cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying second-line combination chemotherapy to see how well it works compared with or without bevacizumab in treating patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who have received first-line chemotherapy and bevacizumab.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as irinotecan, oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and fluorouracil, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Monoclonal antibodies, such as bevacizumab, can block tumor growth in different ways. Some block the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Others find tumor cells and help kill them or carry tumor-killing substances to them. Giving combination chemotherapy together with bevacizumab may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is comparing two combination chemotherapy regimens given together with bevacizumab to see how well they work as first-line therapy in treating patients with metastatic colorectal cancer that cannot be removed by surgery.

Open-label phase 1b trial. Study treatment will be administered in 3 week cycles. There are two distinct parts in this study:

• Part 1: Dose escalation from IMO-2055
• Part 2: Once a recommended phase 2 dose is found additional tolerability and pharmacodynamics will be explored

This is a study to determine how much nausea and or vomiting is caused by irinotecan-based chemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer. Patients with colorectal cancer scheduled to receive their first cycle of an irinotecan-based chemotherapy regimen are eligible. Any chemotherapy agents administered in combination with irinotecan must have low-minimal potential to cause nausea and or vomiting. Examples of acceptable regimens would be irinotecan in combination with infusional fluorouracil and leucovorin (FOLFRI) with or without bevacizumab and irinotecan in combination with cetuximab. Patients who have received prior non-irinotecan-based chemotherapy are eligible providing they experienced no vomiting and no greater than mild nausea with their prior chemotherapy.

The purpose of this study is to determine if the degree of agreement between patients and their physicians regarding the "story" of the illness correlates with improved patient symptom control and quality of life. Another goal of the study is to examine the actual language used by patients and physicians in a specific clinical situation.