View clinical trials related to Myelodysplastic Syndrome.
Filter by:The goal of this clinical research study is to determine the safety and effects of giving a special kind of immune cells called "alloreactive natural killer (NK) cells" with high dose chemotherapy and allogeneic hematopoeitic stem cell transplantation with the goal of defining the maximum tolerated dose of NK cells. The NK cells will be donated from a relative of yours who has certain genetic type in their blood called HLA, that almost matches yours. The stem cells you will receive will come from a separate HLA matched (HLA A, B, C, DR) relative or unrelated donor. The safety of this treatment will also be studied.
Primary Objective: 1. To evaluate whether 5 azacytidine (5-aza)/valproic acid (VPA) or low dose ara-C produces longer event free survival time in patients age > or = 60 years with untreated Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) or high risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) who are typically ineligible for, or not placed on, studies of new agents. Secondary Objective: 1. To evaluate whether pre-treatment methylation/acetylation status in AML/MDS blasts predicts response to either therapy or whether the ability of the 5 azacytidine + valproic acid combination to induce demethylation or acetylation parallels response.
Bone marrow stem cell transplants (otherwise called bone marrow transplants) from healthy donors are sometimes the only means of curing hematological malignant diseases such as acute and chronic leukemias, myelodysplastic syndrome, myeloproliferative diseases and lymphomas. Before transplant the patient receives chemotherapy and radiation treatment to reduce the malignancy to low levels and to prevent rejection of the transplant. The transplant restores the blood counts to normal and replaces the patients immunity with that of the donor. The donors immune cells increase the effect of the transplant by attacking remaining malignant cells. Donor immune cells (especially those called T lymphocytes) also attack healthy non-cancerous cells and tissues of the recipient causing "graft-versus-host-disease" (GVHD). Strong GVHD reactions occurring within weeks after the transplant can be life-threatening . In this study we remove most of the T lymphocytes from the transplant to minimize the risk of GVHD. However to improve immunity against residual malignant cells and boost immunity to infections, donor T cells (stored frozen at time of transplant) are given back around 90 days after the transplant when they have a reduced risk of causing serious GVHD. Any patient between 10 and 75 years of age with acute or chronic leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, myeloproliferative syndromes or lymphoma, who have a family member who is a suitable stem cell donor may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a medical history and various tests and examinations.
This is a new platform in non-myeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation to improve survival by harnessing the immunologic potential of donor T-cells to induce and maintain long-term remissions in patients with hematologic malignancies without undue toxicity. This study involves is the first study in humans directed at optimizing the graft vs leukemia effect by infusing activated T-cells from healthy donors prophylactically, months after recovery from the initial transplant. Investigators are studying whether the activation of donor cells prior to infusion will enhance the patient's ability to "seek and destroy" residual malignant cells while also helping the immune system to fight infection without increasing the immune reaction against the host.
Subjects are being asked to participate in this study because treatment of their disease requires them to receive a stem cell transplant. Stem cells or "mother" cells are the source of normal blood cells and lead to recovery of blood counts after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Unfortunately, there is not a perfectly matched stem cell donor (like a sister or brother) and the subject's disease is considered rapidly progressive and does not permit enough time to identify another donor (like someone from a registry list that is not their relative). We have, however, identified a close relative of the subject's whose stem cells are not a perfect match, but can be used. However, with this type of donor, there is typically an increased risk of developing graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a high rate of transplant failure, and a longer delay in the recovery of the immune system. GVHD is a serious and sometimes fatal side effect of stem cell transplant. GVHD occurs when the new donor cells (graft) recognizes that the body tissues of the patient (host) are different from those of the donor. When this happens, cells in the graft may attack the host organs, primarily the skin, liver, and intestines. The number of occurrences and harshness of severe GVHD depends on several factors, including the degree of genetic differences between the donor and recipient, the intensity of the pre-treatment conditioning regimen, the quantity of transplanted cells, and the recipient's age. In recipients of mismatched family member or matched unrelated donor stem cell transplants, there is a greater risk of GVHD so that 70-90% of recipients of unchanged marrow will develop severe GVHD which could include symptoms such as marked diarrhea, liver failure, or even death. In an effort to lower the occurrences and severity of graft-versus-host disease in patients and to lower the rate of transplant failure, we would like to specially treat the donor's blood cells to remove cells that are most likely to attack the patient's tissues. This will occur in combination with intense conditioning treatment that the patient will receive before the transplant.
The goal of this clinical research study is to find out if Revlimid can help to control the disease in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) or high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with abnormalities in chromosome number 5. The safety of this treatment will also be studied.
Primary Objective: -To determine the dose and schedule combination of 5-Azacitidine, when used as maintenance treatment after allogeneic transplantation for high-risk AML / MDS. Secondary Objective: -To assess the effect of treatment on survival after allogeneic transplantation for high-risk AML / MDS.
5-aza is a chemotherapy drug with activity in leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Researchers hope that valproic acid (VPA) and all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)will increase the effects of 5-aza. The goal of this clinical research study is to find the highest safe dose of valproic acid (VPA) that can be given in combination with 5-azacytidine (5-aza) and all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) in the treatment of AML and MDS. The safety and effectiveness of this combination therapy will also be studied. Additional blood and bone marrow samples will be requested. These samples will be used to evaluate the effect of the treatment on leukemic cells. In addition, any leftover blood and bone marrow samples that are collected at the start of the study and during the regularly scheduled evaluations to be sent for research studies. The research studies will examine changes in the blood and bone marrow cells that might help explain the causes of leukemia and MDS and how the combination of 5-aza, VPA, and ATRA works.
In this study, MGCD0103, a new anticancer drug under investigation, is given three times weekly in combination with azacitidine to patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes or acute myelogenous leukemia.
About 90% of patients with haemato-oncologic malignancy lose their body muscle mass and also lose weight either due to chemotherapy induced nausea/vomiting or the high catabolic state due to fever, sepsis or chemotherapy. This impacts tremendously on the days in hospital and also on the treatment-related complications. Studies with Human Growth hormone (hGH) have shown that it increases lean body mass in adult patients with AIDS and animal models of cancer. At the same time, in vitro studies have shown that hGH has no effect on tumor cell growth. This study is designed to see if the use of hGH in immunocompromised patients with haematological malignancies prevents the loss of muscle mass and weight loss to some extent. This will be a blinded 1:1, randomised study including 150 patients whereby the patients will either receive hGH or a placebo. The doctors and the nurses will not know what drug the patient is receiving. Both hGH and the placebo will be given intravenously (if patients are receiving other intravenous antibiotics or haemopoietic support ) or subcutaneously (if platelets are above 20 x 109/L) The treatment will start on the first day of treatment and continue for 6 weeks.