Clinical Research Directory

Recruitment and Apheresis Collection of Peripheral Blood Hematopoietic Stem Cells, Mononuclear Cells and Granulocytes

The research goal of this study is to obtain CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) from peripheral blood and/or bone marrow, and Mononuclear Cells (lymphocytes and monocytes), and granulocytes (grans) from peripheral blood that will be used in the laboratory and/or in the clinic to develop new cell therapies for patients with inherited or acquired disorders of immunity or blood cells. Development of novel cellular therapies requires access to HSC, Mononuclear Cells and/or granulocytes as the essential starting materials for the pre-clinical laboratory development of gene therapies and other engineered cell products. HSC or blood cells from healthy adult volunteers serve both as necessary experimental controls and also as surrogates for patient cells for clinical scale-up development. HSC or blood cells from patients serve both as the necessary experimental substrate for novel gene therapy and cellular engineering development for specific disorders and as pre-clinical scale up of cellular therapies. Collection of cells from adult patients collected in the NIH Department of Transfusion Medicine (DTM) under conditions conforming to accepted blood banking clinical practice may also be used directly in or cryopreserved for future use in other NIH protocols that have all required regulatory approvals allowing such use. In summary, the research goal of this protocol is the collection of HSC or blood cells that may be used for both laboratory research and/or for clinical treatment in other approved protocols.

Does the Thickness of the Gastrostomy Affect the Incidence of Complications? A Prospective Randomized Single-Center Study in Children

The goal of this interventional study is to compare two different sizes of a gastrostomy tube in children and the incidence of complications three months postoperatively. The study is questionnare-based and both the family and health care personel will fill in the formula about complications at the re-visit when the tube is changed the first time at three months postoperatively. Complications requested are: granuloma, infection, pain, dislocation and leakage.

Hypercalcemia After Paraffin Oil Injection

Today, there is an increased use of non-medical, invasive cosmetic treatments globally without sufficient awareness of possible health risks. A particular problem is young men injecting large amounts of paraffin oil into skeletal muscles especially on upper arms and chest to increase the visible size of the muscles. Several case reports have suggested that intramuscular injection of paraffin oil induces foreign body reaction and granuloma formation and subsequently hypercalcemia. Our hypothesis is that increased generation of activated vitamin D (1,25(OH)2D3) in the marcrophages may be responsible for the persistent hypercalcemia. Now trhe investigators want to include a large group of men who injected 100-10.000 ml paraffin oil to identify risk factors for developing hypercalcemia and try to understand the pathogenesis of the disease. Additionally, granuloma tissue from selected patients will be cultured ex vivo to investigate whether they produce 1,25(OH)2D3 or PTHrP and to test which drugs can most effectively be used to lower calcium levels in these men. Subsequently, we will try to stratify the men according to the severity of the changes in calcium homeostasis as we suggest that this stratification will be the basis for future intervention trials