Pediatric Hematopoetic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT) Clinical Trials

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  • Radiation- and Alkylator-free Bone Marrow Transplantation Regimen for Patients With Dyskeratosis Congenita
  • Dyskeratosis congenita is a disease that affects numerous parts of the body, most typically causing failure of the blood system. Lung disease and a predisposition to cancer are also frequent causes of illness and death. Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) can cure the blood system but can make the lung disease and cancer predisposition worse, because of agents such as alkylators and radiation that are typically used in the procedure. Based on the biology of DC, we hypothesize that it may be possible to avoid these agents in patients with DC, and still have a successful BMT. In this protocol we will test whether a regimen that avoids alkylators and radiation can permit successful BMT without compromising survival in patients with DC.
  • Diagnoses: Pediatric Hematopoetic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT), Pediatric Hematology/Blood Related
  • Status: Recruiting
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  • Pilot and Feasibility Study of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Gene Transfer for the Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome
  • The Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (WAS) is an inherited disorder that results in defects of the blood and bone marrow. It affects boys because the genetic mistake is carried on the X chromosome. Normal people have blood cells called platelets that stop bleeding when blood vessels are damaged. Boys with WAS have low numbers of platelets that do not function correctly. Boys with WAS are thus at risk for severe life-threatening bleeding. A normal immune system is made of special blood cells called white blood cells, which protect against infection and also fight certain types of cancer. In WAS, these white blood cells don't work as well as they should, making these boys very susceptible to infections and to a form of blood cancer known as lymphoma. The abnormal white blood cells of patients with WAS also cause diseases such as eczema and arthritis. Although WAS can be mild, severe forms need treatment as early as possible to prevent life-threatening complications due to bleeding, infection and blood cancer. Over the past decade, investigators have developed new treatments based on the investigators knowledge of the defective gene causing WAS. The investigators can now use genes as a type of medicine that will correct the problem in the patient's own bone marrow. The investigators call this process gene transfer. The procedure is very similar to a normal bone marrow transplant, in that the old marrow is killed off using chemotherapy, but is different because the patient's own bone marrow is given back after it is treated by gene transfer. This approach can be used even if the patient does not have any matched donors available and will avoid problems such as GVHD and rejection. The investigators wish to test whether this approach is safe and whether gene transfer will lead to the development of a healthy immune and blood system.
  • Diagnoses: Pediatric Hematology/Blood Related, Pediatric Hematopoetic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT)
  • Status: Recruiting
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  • Gene Transfer for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, X-linked (SCID-X1) Using a Self-inactivating (SIN) Gammaretroviral Vector
  • Researchers are working on ways to treat SCID patients who don't have a matched brother or sister. One of the goals is to avoid the problems that happen with stem cell transplant from parents and unrelated people, such as repeat transplants, incomplete cure of the immune system, exposure to chemotherapy, and graft versus host disease. The idea behind gene transfer is to replace the broken gene by putting a piece of genetic material (DNA) that has the normal gene into the child's cells. Gene transfer can only be done if we know which gene is missing or broken in the patient. For SCID-X1, gene transfer has been done in the laboratory and in two previous clinical trials by inserting the normal gene into stem cells from bone marrow. The bone marrow is the "factory" inside the bones that creates blood and immune cells. So fixing the gene in the bone marrow stem cells should fix the immune problem, without giving chemotherapy and without risk of graft versus host disease, because the child's own cells are used, rather than another person's. Out of the 20 subjects enrolled in the two previous trials, 18 are alive with better immune systems after gene transfer. Two of the surviving subjects received gene corrected cells over 10 years ago. Gene transfer is still research for two reasons. One is that not enough children have been studied to tell if the procedure is consistently successful. Of the 20 children enrolled in the previous two trials, one child did not have correction of the immune system, and died of complications after undergoing stem cell transplant. The second important reason why gene transfer is research is that we are still learning about the side effects of gene transfer and how to do gene transfer safely. In the last two trials, 5 children have experienced a serious side effect. These children developed leukemia related to the gene transfer itself. Leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells, a condition where a few white blood cells grow out of control. Of these children, 4 of the 5 have received chemotherapy (medication to treat cancer) and are currently in remission (no leukemia can be found by sensitive testing), whereas one died of gene transfer-related leukemia.
  • Diagnoses: Pediatric Hematology/Blood Related, Pediatric Hematopoetic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT)
  • Status: Recruiting
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Showing 1-7 of 7 items
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