Selective T-Cell Depletion to Reduce GVHD (Patients) Receiving Stem Cell Tx to Treat Leukemia, Lymphoma or MDS
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2008-02-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
This study will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of stem cell transplantation in which
the donors T lymphocytes have undergone "selective depletion." Certain patients with cancers
of the blood undergo transplantation of donated stem cells to generate new and normally
functioning bone marrow. In addition to producing the new bone marrow, the donor's
T-lymphocytes also fight any tumor cells that might have remained in the body. This attack on
tumor cells is called a "graft-versus-leukemia" (GVL) effect. However, another type of
T-lymphocyte from the donor may cause what is called "graft-versus-host-disease" (GVHD), in
which the donor cells recognize the patient's cells as foreign and mount an immune response
to reject them. Selective depletion is a technique that was developed to remove the
T-lymphocytes that cause harmful GVHD, while keeping those that produce the desirable GVL
effect.