Overview

Treatment of Sickle Cell Anemia With Stem Cell Transplant

Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2011-08-01
Target enrollment:
0
Participant gender:
All
Summary
This is a clinical research trial in which a novel preparatory regimen was developed for bone marrow transplant (BMT) which eliminates the primary obstacle to transplant, the lack of a matched sibling donor. It is believed this regimen is sufficiently efficacious and sufficiently gentle to apply to patients with sickle cell anemia and related disorders. It is proposed to characterize the efficacy and toxicity of this regimen in high risk patients with sickle cell anemia using criteria for patient selection that have been accepted in prior BMT trials in patients with sickle cell disease, specifically only the subset of patients whose prior clinical behavior indicates that they are at high risk for serious morbidity and early mortality. In addition, it is proposed to characterize the pathophysiology of a consistent febrile response seen in the haploidentical BMT regimen the investigators have developed at Thomas Jefferson University (TJU). The primary goal of this study is to determine the response rate to a reduced intensity conditioning regimen which consists of fludarabine, cytarabine, low dose total body irradiation and cyclophosphamide in patients with severe sickle cell anemia.
Phase:
N/A
Accepts Healthy Volunteers?
No
Details
Lead Sponsor:
Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University
Collaborator:
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Treatments:
Bortezomib
Cyclophosphamide
Cytarabine
Fludarabine
Fludarabine phosphate
Rituximab
Vidarabine
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:

Patient Selection:

i) Patients with sickle cell disease (sickle cell anemia, sickle cell-hemoglobin C disease,
or sickle cell-β0-thalassemia) confirmed by hemoglobin electrophoresis.

ii) Patients should have one or more of the following:

1. History of acute chest syndrome requiring recurrent hospitalization or exchange
transfusion (Acute chest syndrome is defined as pulmonary infiltrate involving at
least one complete lung segment, consistent with alveolar consolidation but not
atelectasis, accompanied by chest pain, fever, cough, tachypnea or wheezing)

2. History of nonhemorrhagic stroke or central nervous system event lasting longer than
24 hours

3. Recurrent vaso-occlusive pain (≥5 episodes during the past two years) or recurrent
priapism requiring hospitalization or visits to the emergency room or sickle cell day
unit

4. Sickle nephropathy (moderate or severe proteinuria or a glomerular filtration rate
30-50% of normal predicted value) with progression on ACE inhibitor therapy iii)
Patient must have failed therapy with hydroxyurea, as HU as evidenced by at least 6
months of maximum HU dosage for sickle cell disease, i.e. dose escalation to a level
which caused some minimal hematologic toxicity in terms of CBC values. Failure to
respond must also be documented by no significant increase in subjects HbF levels at
this maximally tolerated dosage.AND development/ persistence of items listed in (ii)
Patients who are deemed not eligible for hydroxyurea by the primary hematologist will
be considered eligible without having failed hydroxyurea. Non-eligibility for
hydroxyurea therapy is based on:

(1) the diagnoses of SC disease and sickle cell-β0-thalassemia in which no clear evidence
supports the use of hydroxyurea therapy and thus treatment with hydroxyurea is not
considered the standard of care in these entities (2) the presence of high hemoglobin F
levels in patients with sickle cell anemia and documented Hereditary Persistence of Fetal
Hemoglobin (HPFH) in which hydroxyurea is not considered the standard of care (3) severe
adverse reactions to hydroxyurea in patients with sickle cell anemia based on, but not
limited to, count suppression, GI intolerance, and dermatomyositis Patient unwillingness to
be compliant with hydroxyurea therapy is not an acceptable reason for non-eligibility iv)
Patients must have an acceptable related donor

1. who is matched at the HLA-A;B; C; DR loci (8 of 8 match) or mismatched for at most one
locus (7 of 8 match) (well matched related donor

2. who is mismatched at 2-4 alleles (haplo-identical) v) Patient age greater than 18 - 45
years vi) ECOG performance status 0-2/ Karnofsky 70-100% vii) Written informed consent
obtained from the patient. viii) Transaminases <3X ULN; patients with transaminases
greater than the ULN but less than 3XULN will be evaluated by the hepatology service
and will undergo further imaging and biopsy as deemed necessary by hepatology. They
will not be considered eligible unless cleared by hepatology.

Exclusion Criteria:

Patient Selection:

i) Pregnancy/ unwillingness to use adequate contraception during study period ii) Liver
disease including

1. Acute hepatitis (transaminases >3x normal value)

2. Chronic hepatitis C

3. Chronic hepatitis B or history of exposure to hepatitis B iii) Cardiac ejection
fraction < 50% iv) Pulmonary hypertension - as evidenced by findings on resting
echocardiogram of pulmonary artery systolic pressure ≥ 40 mmHg or any evidence of
right ventricular dysfunction (hypokinesis or RV dilation) v) Severe renal impairment
(GFR <30% of predicted normal value) vi) Severe residual functional neurologic
impairment (other than hemiplegia alone) vii) DLCO ≤50 viii) Any evidence of infection
by the human immunodeficiency virus ix) Psychiatric disorder that would preclude
patients from signing an informed consent x) Severe neuro-cognitive or executive
function making informed consent possible