Active clinical trials for "Anemia, Aplastic"

The purpose of this research study is to compare the survival rates of patients with better risk disease undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) to the survival rates reported in the medical literature of similar patients undergoing reduced intensity HSCT from matched related donors.

Rationale: Chemotherapy with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and anti-thymocyte globulin may induce the engraftment cross the immunologic barrier in the setting of HLA-haploidentical allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. In addition, depletion CD3±CD19 cells may contribute to prevent developing severe acute graft versus host disease (GVHD) in haploidentical transplantation. Purpose: This phase I/II trial is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and antithymocyte globulin with CD3±CD19 depleted graft from haploidentical donors in treating patients with aplastic anemia.

This study is for patients with Severe Aplastic Anemia (SAA). A stem cell transplant from a genetically matched sibling donor can help or cure this disease in 85 to 100 percent of patients. Stem cells are immature blood cells that grow to become red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets. A genetic "match" means a brother or sister has same immune type (HLA type) as the patient. Unfortunately, few patients have a matched sibling donor. The chance of negative outcomes is much higher with other types of donors. This study will test the success of a new approach to stem cell transplant for SAA. Patients in this study will receive drugs and radiation treatment to destroy their diseased bone marrow and to prepare them for stem cell transplant. Bone marrow is the tissue inside the bones where stem cells are made.Stem cells will be harvested from the blood or bone marrow of genetically matched unrelated donors or partially matched family donors. The stem cells will be filtered using a new device that is currently under study. The patients will receive large doses of the filtered stem cells (stem cell graft). Researchers want to find out how the study treatment affects patients, the disease, and the chances for survival.

This study will evaluate the safety and usefulness of a new immunosuppressive drug, alemtuzumab (Campath ), in patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA). SAA is a rare and serious blood disorder in which the bone marrow stops making red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Alemtuzumab is a monoclonal antibody that attaches to and kills white blood cells called lymphocytes. In certain types of aplastic anemia, lymphocytes are responsible for the destruction of stem cells in the bone marrow, leading to a decrease in blood counts. Because alemtuzumab destroys lymphocytes, it may be effective in treating aplastic anemia. Alemtuzumab is currently approved to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia and is also helpful in other conditions that require immunosuppression, such as rheumatoid arthritis and immune cytopenias. Patients 2 years of age and older with severe aplastic anemia whose disease does not respond to immunosuppressive therapy or has recurred following immunosuppressive therapy may be eligible for this study. Participants undergo the following tests and procedures: Pretreatment evaluation: Patients have a medical history, physical examination, blood tests, electrocardiogram (EKG), echocardiogram, 24-hour Holter monitor (continuous 24-hour monitoring of electrical activity of the heart), bone marrow biopsy (withdrawal through a needle of a small sample of bone marrow for analysis). Placement of a central line, if needed: An intravenous line (tube) is placed into a major vein in the patient's chest. It can stay in the body for the entire treatment period and be used to give chemotherapy or other medications, including antibiotics and blood transfusions, if needed, and to withdraw blood samples. Alemtuzumab therapy: Patients are admitted to the NIH Clinical Center for the first few injections for close monitoring of side effects. After receiving an initial small test dose, patients begin the first of ten daily injections under the skin, each lasting about 2 hours. Once patients tolerate the infusions with minimal or no side effects, they may be given the remaining infusions on an outpatient basis. Patients who relapse after their initial response to alemtuzumab are given cyclosporine to see if this drug will boost their immune response. Patients receive transfusions, growth factors, and antibiotic therapy, as needed. Infection therapy: Patients are given aerosolized pentamidine to protect against lung infections and valacyclovir to protect against herpes infections. A blood test is done and vital signs are measured every day while patients receive alemtuzumab. Patients have an echocardiogram and 24-hour Holter monitor after the last dose of alemtuzumab. Blood tests are done weekly for the first 3 months after alemtuzumab administration, then every other week until 6 months. Patients return to the NIH for follow-up visits 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and yearly for 5 years after the last dose of alemtuzumab for the following tests and evaluations: Blood test Repeat echocardiogram at 3-month visit Repeat bone marrow biopsy 6 months and 12 months after alemtuzumab, then as clinically indicated for 5 years.

The main purpose of this investigational (not approved by the FDA) Phase I research is to test whether transplantation of umbilical cord blood cells can be safely supplemented with a transfusion of a portion of these cells that have been sorted (collected from a special machine called a cell sorter) and then either infused a few hours after the standard transplant or for some patients grown in a special system in the laboratory prior to the transplant, designed to increase the number of stem cells transplanted. This system is currently in the early phases of testing.

To assess the tolerability and effectiveness of rabbit antithymocyte globulin (ATG, Thymoglobuline) with ciclosporin in the first line treatment of patients with acquired severe aplastic anaemia, and patients with non-severe aplastic anaemia and who are transfusion dependent.

This clinical trial is studying how well giving cyclophosphamide together with anti-thymocyte globulin followed by methotrexate and cyclosporine works in preventing chronic graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) in patients with severe aplastic anemia undergoing donor bone marrow transplant. Giving low doses of chemotherapy, such as cyclophosphamide, before a donor bone marrow transplant helps stop the growth of abnormal cells. It also stops the patient's immune system from rejecting the donor's stem cells. The donated stem cells may replace the patient's immune system and help destroy any remaining abnormal cells. Sometimes the transplanted cells from a donor can also make an immune response against the body's normal cells. Giving anti-thymocyte globulin before and methotrexate and cyclosporine after transplant may stop this from happening

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of the oral iron chelator Deferasirox on liver iron content after one year of treatment in patients with iron overload from repeated blood transfusions. Beta-thalassemia patients unable to be treated with deferoxamine or patients with rare chronic anemias such as Myelodysplastic Syndrome, Fanconi's Syndrome, Blackfan-Diamond Syndrome, and Pure Red Blood Cell Anemia are eligible for this study. Liver iron content will be measured by liver biopsy at the beginning of the study and after one year of treatment. However, those patients living in the San Francisco/Oakland area may have a SQUID in place of the liver biopsy if the biopsy is not medically possible for them. The SQUID is a non-invasive magnetic means to measure liver iron content.

Severe aplastic anemia (SAA) is a life-threatening bone marrow failure disorder characterized by pancytopenia and a hypocellular bone marrow. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation and immunosuppressive treatment with anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) and cyclosporine (CsA) have dramatically changed the natural course of this illness, with 5 year survival of 75% in patients undergoing either treatment. Since most patients are not suitable candidates for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) due to advanced age or lack of a histocompatible sibling, efforts at NHLBI have focused on improving immunosuppression treatment in order to improve response rates, survival, and to decrease relapse. In our experience of 122 patients treated at NHLBI with the combination of ATG and cyclosporine, one quarter to one third did not respond; about 50% of responders relapsed; and 5 year survival was correlated with the robustness in blood cell count improvement at 3 months (reticulocyte or platelet count greater than or equal to 50,000 /uL). Why some patients do not respond initially while others relapse is unclear. Autoreactive T cells may be resistant to the effect of ATG/CsA (nonresponders), while in others residual autoreactive T cells expand post-treatment leading to hematopoietic stem cell destruction and recurrent pancytopenia (relapse). Therefore, novel immunosuppressive regimens to increase response rates and hematologic recovery at 3 months and to decrease relapse rates are needed. An ongoing NHLBI trial, which is close to completing accrual, has added mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) for a total of 18 months to standard ATG + CsA in an attempt to reduce the relapse rate after cyclosporine is discontinued. Preliminary results have been disappointing, with no marked reduction in relapse among patients who received MMF. Sirolimus (rapamycin, Rapamune , RAPA) is a novel immunosuppressive agent, which acts synergistically with cyclosporine by blocking T cell activation through CsA-resistant pathways. The potentiation of the combination of CsA-RAPA has been established in vitro and in the clinical setting, mainly in islet cell and solid organ transplantation. The significant increase in response rate seen with the addition of CsA to ATG indicated that an inhibitory effect on T lymphocytes is important in blocking autoreactive T cells in aplastic anemia. The combination of CsA-RAPA may further block activated autoreactive T cells and therefore lead to improved response rates (and survival) and decreased relapse rates. This prospective randomized phase II study will investigate two different immunosuppressive regimens in patients with severe aplastic anemia who have not received prior immunosuppressive therapy. One arm will receive ATG + CsA in addition to sirolimus for 6 months, and the second arm will receive standard ATG + CsA for 6 months followed by a slow taper of CsA with a 25% dose reduction every 3 months for the subsequent 18 months. This trial will determine the effectiveness of sirolimus in patients with aplastic anemia as well as the role of a cyclosporine taper in preventing relapses. Primary endpoint will be no longer meeting criteria for severe aplastic anemia while secondary endpoints are relapse, robustness of hematologic recovery at 3 months, survival, clonal evolution to PNH, myelodysplasia and acute leukemia. 10/11/2005. The Sirolimus (Rapamune) arm of the trial was stopped for lack of efficacy. The study will continue as a single arm study to establish if slow taper of CsA prevents relapse rates after initial standard treatment with ATG followed by CsA for six months.

To determine the therapeutic effects of anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) in patients with aplastic anemia and related bone marrow failure diseases.