View clinical trials related to Hemoglobinuria, Paroxysmal.
Filter by:Relapsed disease is the most common cause of death in children with hematological malignancies. Patients who fail high-intensity conventional chemotherapeutic regimens or relapse after stem cell transplantation have a poor prognosis. Toxicity from multiple therapies and elevated leukemic/tumor burden usually make these patients ineligible for the aggressive chemotherapy regimens required for conventional stem cell transplantation. Alternative options are needed. One type of treatment being explored is called haploidentical transplant. Conventional blood or bone marrow stem cell transplant involves destroying the patient's diseased marrow with radiation or chemotherapy. Healthy marrow from a donor is then infused into the patient where it migrates to the bone marrow space to begin generating new blood cells. The best type of donor is a sibling or unrelated donor with an identical immune system (HLA "match"). However, most patients do not have a matched sibling available and/or are unable to identify an acceptable unrelated donor through the registries in a timely manner. In addition, the aggressive treatment required to prepare the body for these types of transplants can be too toxic for these highly pretreated patients. Therefore doctors are investigating haploidentical transplant using stem cells from HLA partially matched family member donors. Although haploidentical transplant has proven curative in many patients, this procedure has been hindered by significant complications, primarily regimen-related toxicity including graft versus host disease (GVHD), and infection due to delayed immune reconstitution. These can, in part, be due to certain white blood cells in the graft called T cells. GVHD happens when the donor T cells recognize the patient's (the host) body tissues are different and attack these cells. Although too many T cells increase the possibility of GVHD, too few may cause the recipient's immune system to reconstitute slowly or the graft to fail to grow, leaving the patient at high-risk for infection. However, the presence of T cells in the graft may offer a positive effect called graft versus malignancy or GVM. With GVM, the donor T cells recognize the patient's malignant cells as diseased and, in turn, attack these diseased cells. For these reasons, a primary focus for researchers is to engineer the graft to provide a T cell depleted product to reduce the risk of GVHD, yet provide a sufficient number of cells to facilitate immune reconstitution, graft integrity and GVM. In this study, patients were given a haploidentical graft engineered to with specific T cell parameter values using the CliniMACS system. A reduced intensity, preparative regimen was used to reduce regimen-related toxicity and mortality. The primary goal of this study is to evaluate overall survival in those who receive this study treatment.
Blood and marrow stem cell transplant has improved the outcome for patients with high-risk hematologic malignancies. However, most patients do not have an appropriate HLA (immune type) matched sibling donor available and/or are unable to identify an acceptable unrelated HLA matched donor through the registries in a timely manner. Another option is haploidentical transplant using a partially matched family member donor. Although haploidentical transplant has proven curative in many patients, this procedure has been hindered by significant complications, primarily regimen-related toxicity including GVHD and infection due to delayed immune reconstitution. These can, in part, be due to certain white blood cells in the graft called T cells. GVHD happens when the donor T cells recognize the body tissues of the patient (the host) are different and attack these cells. Although too many T cells increase the possibility of GVHD, too few may cause the recipient's immune system to reconstitute slowly or the graft to fail to grow, leaving the patient at high-risk for significant infection. For these reasons, a primary focus for researchers is to engineer the graft to provide a T cell dose that will reduce the risk for GVHD, yet provide a sufficient number of cells to facilitate immune reconstitution and graft integrity. Building on prior institutional trials, this study will provide patients with a haploidentical graft engineered to specific T cell target values using the CliniMACS system. A reduced intensity, preparative regimen will be used in an effort to reduce regimen-related toxicity and mortality. Two groups of patients were enrolled on this study. One group included those with high-risk hematologic malignancies and the second group included participants with refractory hematologic malignancies or undergoing a second transplant. The primary aim of the study was to estimate the relapse rate in the one group of research participants with refractory hematologic malignancies or those undergoing second allogeneic transplant. Both groups will be followed and analyzed separately in regards to the secondary objectives. This study was closed to accrual on April 2006 as it met the specific safety stopping rules regarding occurrence of severe graft vs. host disease. Although this study is no longer open to accrual, the treated participants continue to be followed as directed by the protocol.
This study will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the experimental drug eculizumab for treating paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), a disorder that can cause premature destruction of red blood cells. PNH may result in anemia requiring blood transfusions. Patients may be at high risk of life-threatening blood clots in their veins and may have urine discoloration, stomach pain, difficulty swallowing, tiredness, and poor quality of life. Men may have problems getting or maintaining an erection. Eculizumab is a monoclonal antibody that may improve the survival of red blood cells in patients with PNH. Patients 18 years of age and older who have been diagnosed with PNH for more than 6 months, who have active disease, and who require blood transfusions may be eligible for this study. Each candidate is screened with a physical examination, electrocardiogram, blood and urine tests, and a questionnaire for information on how PNH affects the patient physically, socially, emotionally, and functionally. Participants receive infusions of eculizumab through a needle in a vein once a week for five doses and then every two weeks for another 24 doses. All patients are vaccinated against Neisseria meningitides, a bacteria that can cause symptoms, possibly including life-threatening meningitis, in susceptible people, including people who take eculizumab. At every treatment visit, patients update their health status, transfusion record, and medication use; review their laboratory results from the preceding visit; have vital signs measured; and provide a blood sample for laboratory tests. At selected visits, they also provide a urine sample, have a repeat electrocardiogram, and complete a questionnaire. At the final treatment visit, participants have a complete physical examination, in addition to the routine procedures.
The primary objective is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of eculizumab in transfusion dependent patients with hemolytic PNH.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the long-term safety of eculizumab in patients with transfusion dependent hemolytic PNH.
The primary objective is to evaluate the safety of eculizumab in patients with transfusion-dependent hemolytic PNH
RATIONALE: Chemoprevention is the use of certain drugs to keep cancer from forming, growing, or coming back. The use of eculizumab may prevent leukemia and stop the destruction of red blood cells in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying how well eculizumab works in treating patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.
This study will examine the safety and effectiveness of the experimental drug eculizumab in treating patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), a rare disorder of red blood cells that leads to premature destruction of the cells and resulting anemia. Patients may be at high risk of blood clots and may develop bone marrow failure or aplastic anemia, with low white blood cell and platelet counts. Eculizumab is a monoclonal antibody that may help improve the survival of red blood cells. Patients 18 years of age and older with PNH who require blood transfusions for anemia and have received at least four transfusions in the 12 months preceding evaluation for this study may be eligible to enroll. Candidates are screened with a medical history, physical examination, and check of vital signs. Participants have an electrocardiogram (EKG) and blood and urine tests, and are vaccinated against Neisseria meningitides, a common bacteria that can cause a disabling or fatal type of meningitis. They then enter an observation phase of the study, with monthly visits during which they complete a questionnaire; update their health status, transfusion record, and medication use; have their vital signs checked and PNH symptoms evaluated; have blood and urine tests; and receive a transfusion, if necessary. These visits continue for up to 3 months until patients receive a "qualifying" transfusion; that is, a transfusion given as a consequence of a certain hemoglobin level with symptoms or a different level without symptoms. Patients are then randomly assigned to receive either eculizumab or a placebo (salt solution with no active ingredient). Both study medications are given intravenously (through a vein) over 30 minutes once a week for five doses and then once every 2 weeks for another 11 doses. At each treatment visit (study weeks 0-24), patients update their health status, transfusion records, and medication use; have their vital signs checked; and provide a blood sample. At various visits, they also complete a questionnaire, provide a urine sample and have an EKG. At the last treatment visit (week 26 or the final visit for patients who end their participation before visit 18) patients have a complete physical examination in addition to the procedures listed above.
This study will examine blood cells of patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) after they receive a blood transfusion to determine if certain proteins (GPI-linked proteins) in the transfused blood transfer to the patient's blood cells. GPI-linked proteins, which are normally present on red cells and regulate red cell survival, are absent in patients with PNH. Their lack is believed to account for the premature destruction of red blood cells in these patients, resulting in a low hemoglobin and hematocrit. Patients may experience fatigue, flank pain and other symptoms, requiring treatment with blood transfusion. Patients with PNH 18 years of age or older with group A1 blood who require at least three units of red cells and who have not been transfused with group O blood within the last 3 months may be eligible for this study. Participants will come to the NIH Clinical Center for the following procedures: - Interview about the severity of their anemia-related symptoms - Blood test - Blood transfusion, if required. Patients will be transfused with compatible group O blood. The donor blood will be washed (rinsed with a salt solution) until it is 99% free of donor plasma. Group O blood is given instead of group A1 in order to be able to distinguish the patient's cells from the transfused cells. Blood samples of 3 teaspoons each will be drawn 1 day, 1 week, and 3 weeks after the transfusion. These samples may be collected by the patient's doctor locally and sent to NIH by mail. If it is found that GPI-linked proteins transfer to the patient's cells, the study will also examine how long the proteins remain attached and will assess whether the proteins are functional and prevent cell destruction.
Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Colony-stimulating factors such as sargramostim may increase the number of immune cells found in bone marrow or peripheral blood and may help a person's immune system recover from the side effects of chemotherapy. Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of bryostatin 1 combined with sargramostim in treating patients who have refractory myeloid cancer