CMV Infections Clinical Trial
Official title:
A Phase I Study Using Most Closely HLA-matched Cytomegalovirus-specific T Lymphocytes for the Treatment of Cytomegalovirus Infections Post-allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant(VIRALYM-C)
Patients enrolled on this study will have received a stem cell transplant. After a
transplant, while the immune system grows back the patient is at risk for infection. Some
viruses can stay in the body for life, and if the immune system is weakened (like after a
transplant), they can cause life-threatening infections.
CMV can cause serious infections in patients with weak or suppressed immune systems. It
usually affects the lungs, causing a very serious pneumonia, but it can also affect the gut,
the liver and the eyes.
Investigators want to see if they can use a kind of white blood cell called T cells to treat
CMV infections that occur after a transplant. Investigators have observed in other studies
that treatment with specially trained T cells has been successful when the cells are made
from the transplant donor. However as it takes 1-2 months to make the cells, that approach is
not practical when a patient already has an infection.
Investigators have now generated CMV-specific T cells from the blood of healthy donors and
created a bank of these cells. Investigators have previously successfully used frozen
virus-specific T cell lines generated from healthy donors to treat virus infections after
bone marrow transplant, and have now improved the production method and customized the bank
of lines to specifically and exclusively target CMV.
In this study, investigators want to find out if the banked CMV-specific T cells derived from
healthy donors are safe and can help to treat CMV infection.
The CMV-specific T cells (Viralym-C) are an investigational product not approved by the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA).
To make CMV-specific T cells (Viralym-C cells), small pieces of protein called peptides that
come from CMV were mixed with blood cells from healthy donors. These peptides train a kind of
white blood cell called T cells to recognize and kill cells that are infected with CMV. These
T cells were then grown in special growth factors in special flasks in the lab. Once we made
sufficient numbers of cells, we tested them to make sure they recognized cells infected by
CMV, and then we froze them.
When we think the subject needs them, Viralym-C cells will be thawed and injected into the
intravenous line. To prevent an allergic reaction, prior to receiving Viralym-C cells the
subject may be given diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and acetaminophen (Tylenol). The subject will
remain in the clinic for at least one hour after the infusion. After the subject receives the
cells, the transplant doctor will monitor the levels of CMV in the blood. We will also take
blood to see how long the cells we gave the subject are lasting in the body.
Subjects will continue to be followed by their transplant doctors after the injection. The
subject will either be seen in the clinic or they will be contacted by a research nurse to
follow up for this study every week for 6 weeks, then at 3, 6 and 12 months. The subject may
have other visits for their standard care. Subjects will also have regular blood tests done
to follow their counts and the viral infection as part of their standard care.
To learn more about the way Viralym-C cells are working in the body, an extra 30-40 ml (6-8
teaspoons) of blood will be taken before the infusion and then at study follow-up visits at
1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 weeks, and 3 months after the infusion. Blood should come from the central
intravenous line, and should not require extra needle sticks.
All participants on this study will be infused with the same number (dose) of cells. If
Viralym-C infusion has helped the subjects infection or if they have had a treatment, for
example with steroid drugs that might have destroyed the T cells the subject was given, then
they are allowed to receive up to 4 additional infusions of the Viralym-C cells at the same
initial dose level from 28 days after their initial infusion. Following infusions should be
at least 14 days apart. After each Viralym-C cells infusion, subjects will be monitored as
described above.
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