Clinical trial NCT03077542: Nonmyeloablative Haploidentical Peripheral Blood Mobilized Hematopoietic Precursor Cell Transplantation for Sickle Cell Disease
Official title: Nonmyeloablative Haploidentical Peripheral Blood Mobilized Hematopoietic Precursor Cell Transplantation for Sickle Cell Disease
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: PHASE1
PHASE2
Conditions: Sickle Cell Disease
Keywords: Peripheral Blood Stem Cells
Host-Donor Chimerism
Graft-Versus-Host Disease
Haploidentical
Donor Apheresis
Lead sponsor: National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)
Sponsor class: NIH
First posted: 2017-03-13
Enrollment: 57
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 2
Maximum age (years): 100
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Background:

Peripheral blood stem cell transplantation procedures are used for people with sickle cell disease. Researchers want to improve the success and reduce the complications for these procedures. This might allow more people to have a transplant.

Objective:

To see if a new transplant regime is effective, safe and well tolerated in people with sickle cell disease.

Eligibility:

Adults at least 18 years old with sickle cell disease and certain complications.

A relative who is a half tissue match.

Design:

Participants will be screened with medical history, physical exam, and blood tests. Recipients will also have:

* Heart, lung, and mental health tests
* Chest x-rays
* Bone marrow taken from the pelvic bone
* Eyes and teeth checked

Recipients will have a large central line inserted into a vein for up to 6 months.

Donors will have their veins tested and have an IV inserted for 1 day or on rare occasions 2 days.

Donors will get a drug to activate bone marrow. It will be injected for about 6 days.

Donors will have at least 1 five-hour procedure where bone marrow stem cells will be collected. Blood will be taken from a vein in one arm or in rare cases from a groin vein and put through a machine. Some blood will be saved and the rest will be returned. Stem cells will be taken from the saved blood in a lab and frozen until ready to give to the recipient.

Recipients will have:

* Stems cells collected and frozen
* Hygiene lessons
* Bone density scans
* Low-dose radiation
* Drugs for their immune system
* Donor cells infused through their central line
* Transfusions

After about 30 days, recipients will leave the hospital. They must stay near NIH for 3 months after the transplant and have frequent visits. After returning home, they will have 8 visits over 5 years, then be contacted yearly.

Detailed description: Nonmyeloablative allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplants are currently being investigated in phase I/II trials assessing engraftment, efficacy, and toxicity at a number of transplant centers. Our ongoing protocol for patients with severe congenital anemias, particularly sickle cell disease (SCD), and an HLA-matched sibling donor has had excellent preliminary results. None of the patients who engrafted had sickle-related events or any evidence of graft versus host disease (GVHD). There was no significant toxicity associated with the conditioning regimen. An additional protocol is ongoing for patients with high risk of graft rejection which employs pentostatin and oral cyclophosphamide (PC) pre-transplant to further deplete recipient lymphocytes in an attempt to decrease the rate of graft rejection. Four of 4 patients transplanted remain free of SCD.

Our main limitation has been a lack of HLA-matched sibling donors in the majority of patients. We performed a study in which patients with severe SCD who lacked a suitable donor underwent a search for a matched unrelated donor or umbilical cord donor. The vast majority of patients were not found to have an appropriate alternative donor. We therefore seek to develop a safe nonmyeloablative regimen to be applied to the haploidentical setting so that family members can serve as donors and greatly expand the donor pool.

We developed a nonmyeloablative haploidentical PBSC transplant protocol which included 3 cohorts, with stopping rules built in for regimen failure, defined as graft rejection or severe GVHD. All included 400 cGy total body irradiation (TBI) in divided doses 1 and 2 days prior to transplant, alemtuzumab, and sirolimus. The first cohort included no cyclophosphamide. The 2nd included one dose of cyclophosphamide given at 50mg/kg on day 3 post-transplant, and the 3rd included 100mg/kg cyclophosphamide given in divided doses on days 3 and 4 post-transplant. The engraftment rate and percentage of patients who remained free of SCD improved with each successive cohort. However, the graft rejection rate in the 3rd cohort remained high at 50%. To attempt to reduce the rate of graft rejection in the haploidentical setting, this protocol will add PC to the conditioning regimen.

In this protocol, we propose PBSC transplantation in patients with SCD considered at high risk for complications from or ineligible for standard bone marrow transplantation, with allogeneic peripheral blood stem cells from a haploidentical donor using a novel immunosuppressive regimen without myeloablation in an attempt to further decrease the transplant-related morbidity/mortality. The low intensity nonmyeloablative conditioning regimen will consist of a relatively low radiation dose for therapeutic radiation, Alemtuzumab (Campath ), Sirolimus (Rapamune ), Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan ), and pentostatin (Nipent ) as a strategy to provide adequate immunosuppression to allow sufficient engraftment for clinical remission with a lower risk of GVHD development. T-cell replete, donor-derived, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)- mobilized PBSC will be used to establish hematopoietic and lymphoid reconstitution.

The primary endpoint of this study is the percentage of patients at 100 days post-transplant who have not rejected their grafts, and who are without severe GVHD (defined as grade 3 and higher acute GVHD and moderate to severe chronic GVHD). Other endpoints include degree of donor-host chimerism necessary for long-term graft survival and disease amelioration, incidence of acute and chronic GVHD, incidence of graft rejection, transplant-related morbidity, as well as disease-free and overall survival.

Eligibility criteria: * INCLUSION CRITERIA-RECIPIENTS:

Patients with any type of sickle cell disease who are at high risk for disease-related cerebrovascular morbidity or early mortality, defined by having severe end-organ damage (A, B, C, D, or E):

A. A neurologic event resulting in focal neurologic deficits that lasted \>= 24 hours (classical clinical definition of stroke, not requiring imaging studies of the brain) OR a focal neurological event resulting in abnormalities on T2- weighted or FLAIR images using an MRI scan, indicative of an acute infarct, with no other reasonable medical explanation (definition of a stroke supported with MRI imaging scans of the brain), OR both; OR

B. Tricuspid regurgitant jet velocity (TRV) of \>= 2.7 m/s at baseline (without vaso- occlusive crisis) and/or pulmonary hypertension; OR

C. Sickle hepatopathy defined as either ferritin \>1000 mcg/L and platelet count \< 250,000/uL (without vaso-occlusive crisis) OR direct bilirubin \> 0.4 mg/dL and platelet count \<250,000/uL (without vaso- occlusive crisis)

D. Any acute chest syndrome episode resulting in intensive care admission requiring non- mechanical ventilatory support: simple nasal cannula, face mask that requires oxygen content (venti mask, non-rebreather), continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), Bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP), high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) or invasive mechanical ventilatory support (delivered by endotracheal tube or tracheostomy).

E. Silent cerebral infarct defined as an infarct-like lesion based on an MRI signal abnormality at least 3 mm in one dimension and visible in two planes on FLAIR or T2- weighted images (or similar image with 3D imaging) and documented neurological examination performed by a neurologist demonstrating the participant has a normal neurologic or an abnormality on examination that could not be explained by the location of the brain lesion(s).

Non-disease specific:

A. Age greater than or equal to 18 years

B. Haploidentical relative donor available

C. Ability to comprehend and willing to sign an informed consent

D. Negative serum beta-HCG

E. Ejection fraction greater than or equal to 35%

F. Glomerular filtration rate \>60 mL/min/1.73m\^2 by cystatin C-based or iothalamate-based or other equivalent GFR testing

G. Adjusted DLCO greater than or equal to 35%

EXCLUSION CRITERIA RECIPIENT: (any of the following would exclude the subject from participating)

1. Available 6/6 HLA-matched sibling donor
2. ECOG performance status of 3 or more (See Appendix A)
3. Evidence of uncontrolled bacterial, viral, or fungal infections (currently taking medication and progression of clinical symptoms) within one month prior to starting the conditioning regimen.
4. Patients with fever or suspected minor infection should await resolution of symptoms before starting the conditioning regimen.
5. Major anticipated illness or organ failure incompatible with survival from PBSC transplant
6. Pregnant or breast-feeding
7. Donor specific anti-HLA antibodies (DSAs) greater than or equal to 2000 Mean Fluorescence Intensity (MFI)
8. Patients seronegative for EBV who have EBV seropositive donors

INCLUSION CRITERIA-DONOR:

Haploidentical relative donor deemed suitable and eligible, and willing to donate, per clinical evaluations who are additionally willing to donate blood for research. Related donors will be evaluated in accordance with existing Standard NIH Policies and Procedures for determination of eligibility and suitability for clinical donation. Note that participation in this study is offered to all related donors, but is not required for a do le that not all related donors will enroll onto this study.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA-DONOR:

None

Primary outcomes:
measure: Percentage of Participants Who Have Not Rejected Their Stem Cell Graft and Who Are Without Severe Graft-versus-host Disease Following Stem Cell Transplant
timeFrame: 100 days post transplant
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Chimeric Value That is Required to Maintain Graft Survival and Hematologic Normalcy.
timeFrame: Up to Year 5
measure: Incidence of Donor Type Hemoglobin Post-transplant in SCD Patients Who Have Not Been Transfused in the Previous 3 Months.
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Number of Participants Who Developed Acute GVHD Grades I, II, III, IV
timeFrame: Day 100
measure: Number of Participants Who Developed Moderate or Severe Chronic Graft vs Host Disease (GVHD)
timeFrame: Up to Year 5
measure: Percentage of Participant That Are Disease-free Survival Following Stem Cell Transplant
timeFrame: Up to Year 5
measure: Percentage of Participant Overall Survival Following Stem Cell Transplant
timeFrame: Up to Year 5
measure: Incidence of Graft Failure Following Stem Cell Transplant
timeFrame: Up to 5 Years
measure: Participant Graft Rejection Rate Following Stem Cell Transplant
timeFrame: Up to 5 years
measure: Number of Participants That Experienced Transplant-related Mortality
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Number of Participants That Experienced Regimen Failure by Type of Haploidentical Donor
timeFrame: Up to Year 5
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Bethesda
country: United States
facility: National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
state: Maryland
Study officials:
affiliation: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
name: Courtney F Joseph, M.D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: