Clinical Research Directory

Early Check: Expanded Screening in Newborns

Early Check provides voluntary screening of newborns for a selected panel of conditions. The study has three main objectives: 1) develop and implement an approach to identify affected infants, 2) address the impact on infants and families who screen positive, and 3) evaluate the Early Check program. The Early Check screening will lead to earlier identification of newborns with rare health conditions in addition to providing important data on the implementation of this model program. Early diagnosis may result in health and development benefits for the newborns. Infants who have newborn screening in North Carolina will be eligible to participate, equating to over 120,000 eligible infants a year. Over 95% of participants are expected to screen negative. Newborns who screen positive and their parents are invited to additional research activities and services. Parents can enroll eligible newborns on the Early Check electronic Research Portal. Screening tests are conducted on residual blood from existing newborn screening dried blood spots. Confirmatory testing is provided free-of-charge for infants who screen positive, and carrier testing is provided to mothers of infants with fragile X. Affected newborns have a physical and developmental evaluation. Their parents have genetic counseling and are invited to participate in surveys and interviews. Ongoing evaluation of the program includes additional parent interviews.

Phase I/II Clinical Trial Stem Cell Gene Therapy in RAG1-Deficient SCID

This study is a prospective, non-randomized, open-label, two-centre phase I/II intervention study designed to treat children up to 24 months of age with RAG1-deficient SCID with an indication for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation but lacking an HLA-matched donor. The study involves infusion of autologous CD34+ cells transduced with the pCCL.MND.coRAG1.wpre lentiviral vector (hereafter called RAG1 LV CD34+ cells) in five patients with RAG1-deficient SCID.