Use of T-allo10 in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) for Blood Disorders

A significant number of patients with hematologic malignancies need a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) to be cured. Only about 50% of these patients have a fully matched donor, the remaining patients will require an HSCT from a mismatched related or unrelated donor. Almost 60% of these mismatched donor HSCTs will result in graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), which can cause significant morbidity and increased non-relapse mortality. GvHD is caused by the donor effector T cells present in the HSC graft that recognize and react against the mismatched patient's tissues. Researchers and physicians at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford are working to prevent GvHD after HSCT with a new clinical trial. The objective of this clinical program is to develop a cell therapy to prevent GvHD and induce graft tolerance in patients receiving mismatched unmanipulated donor HSCT. The cell therapy consists of a cell preparation from the same donor of the HSCT (T-allo10) containing T regulatory type 1 (Tr1) cells able to suppress allogenic (host-specific) responses, thus decreasing the incidence of GvHD. This is the first trial of its kind in pediatric patients and is only available at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford. The purpose of this phase 1 study is to determine the safety and tolerability of a cell therapy, T-allo10, to prevent GvHD in patients receiving mismatched related or mismatched unrelated unmanipulated donor HSCT for hematologic malignancies.