Clinical Research Directory

Administration of Donor T Cells With the Caspase-9 Suicide Gene

Patients will be receiving a stem cell transplant as treatment for their disease. As part of the stem cell transplant, patients will be given very strong doses of chemotherapy, which will kill all their existing stem cells. A close relative of the patient will be identified, whose stem cells are not a perfect match for the patient's, but can be used. This type of transplant is called "allogeneic", meaning that the cells are from a donor. With this type of donor who is not a perfect match, there is typically an increased risk of developing GvHD, and a longer delay in the recovery of the immune system. GvHD is a serious and sometimes fatal side-effect of stem cell transplant. GvHD occurs when the new donor cells (graft) recognize that the body tissues of the patient (host) are different from those of the donor. In this study, investigators are trying to see whether they can make special T cells in the laboratory that can be given to the patient to help their immune system recover faster. As a safety measure, we want to "program" the T cells so that if, after they have been given to the patient, they start to cause GvHD, we can destroy them ("suicide gene"). Investigators will obtain T cells from a donor, culture them in the laboratory, and then introduce the "suicide gene" which makes the cells sensitive to a specific drug called AP1903. If the specially modified T cells begin to cause GvHD, the investigators can kill the cells by administering AP1903 to the patient. We have had encouraging results in a previous study regarding the effective elimination of T cells causing GvHD, while sparing a sufficient number of T cells to fight infection and potentially cancer. More specifically, T cells made to carry a gene called iCasp9 can be killed when they encounter the drug AP1903. To get the iCasp9 gene into T cells, we insert it using a virus called a retrovirus that has been made for this study. The AP1903 that will be used to "activate" the iCasp9 is an experimental drug that has been tested in a study in normal donors with no bad side-effects. We hope we can use this drug to kill the T cells. The major purpose of this study is to find a safe and effective dose of "iCasp9" T cells that can be given to patients who receive an allogeneic stem cell transplant. Another important purpose of this study is to find out whether these special T cells can help the patient's immune system recover faster after the transplant than they would have otherwise.

Prospective Validation of the OHI Index

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) associated with hematologic malignancies (HM-HLH) is a syndrome with an abysmal prognosis (10-30% 5 years overall survival). The investigators have recently established an improved diagnostic and prognostic index for HM-HLH, termed the Optimized HLH Inflammatory (OHI) index. The OHI index is comprised of the combined elevation of soluble CD25 (sCD25) \> 3,900 U/mL and ferritin \>1,000 ng/mL . However, the true incidence and outcomes of HLH/OHI+ in an unselected cohort are unknown, and so is the mechanism of HM-HLH.

Establishment of an Early Warning Screening System for Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis a Multi-center, Prospective Study

Our three-step screening system uses commonly used clinical and laboratory parameters to effectively identify patients who may be at high risk of HLH, conduct etiology screening early for patients who meet the diagnostic criteria for HLH, and guide standardized treatment. Therefore, this study proposes to establish a highly accurate and convenient hemophagocytic early warning system to improve the early diagnosis of patients with hemophagocytic syndrome and identify suspected HLH patients early. Etiology screening is performed on patients who meet the diagnostic criteria for HLH, high-risk predisposing factors are identified, and precise treatment is guided, thereby improving the success rate of patient treatment and improving the quality of life.

A Randomized Controlled Study of High-dose Cyclophosphamide Induction Therapy in Adult Patients With HLH

Adult secondary HLH involves tumors, autoimmune diseases and other causes in addition to infection,Infectious factors, theoretically need different treatment methods for different etiology. But adult HLH itself disease .The situation progresses ferociously, which can cause organ damage and blood coagulation disorder and endanger life quickly, with early mortality (30days).It can be more than 50%. On the other hand, although diagnostic techniques have improved significantly, identifying the cause is still costly Time, such as 1-2 weeks for the pathological diagnosis of lymphoma, leads to more patients losing further treatment due to early death. The opportunity to heal. Therefore, it is important to explore effective induction therapy for adult HLH. In the majority ,Early (30-day) mortality was as high as 40% after cardiac induction using HLH2004 or CHOP(cyclophosphamide, hydroxydaunomycin, Oncovin, and prednisone) induction. HLH, on the other hand, usually requires prompt treatment before the cause is established. Due to a specific infection HLH can benefit from anti-infective therapy. Therefore, it is necessary to explore more effective induction therapy for adult non-infective HLH.It has very important clinical significance. Adult secondary HLH has the common features of a large number of T cell proliferation and activation and a significant reduction of NK(natural killer) cells, in which the central liNK(natural killer) is a large number of T cells proliferation and secomplete remission etion of cytokines, which can be used as induction therapy.Common target is also the pathological basis for designing unified induction scheme. Cyclophosphamide is a commonly used alkylated chemotherapy drug,It's also an important immunosuppressant. Based on the treatment of regenerative disorders anemia, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation prevention.Experience with Plant versus Host disease (GVHD) has shown that the use of cyclophosphamide exceeds a total dose of 25mg/day,Two days can effectively kill CD8(cluster of differentiation 8 )+ or CD4(cluster of differentiation 4 )+T cells, and the maximum tolerated dose of this drug in humans exceeds 50mg/kg/day for two days. Aiming at the central liNK(natural killer) of adult HLH pathogenesis, The investigators designed for the first time to use a large dose of cyclophosphamide (25mg-50mg/kg/day 2days) to inhibit the activation of T cells, inhibit the production of cytokines and block the development mechanism of HLH. This study intends to conduct a randomized controlled study, with HLH2004 scheme as the control, and the observation is large efficacy and safety of dose cyclophosphamide in induction therapy of non-infective adult HLH in order to complete remission eate a new induction Treatment plan.