Recruiting
Phase 1
Phase 2

Donor Lymphocyte Infusion

Sponsor:

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Code:

NCT05327023

Conditions

Hematologic Neoplasms

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 12 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

donor lymphocyte infusion

Cyclophosphamide

Busulfan

Mycophenolate mofetil

Fludarabine

Study Details

Brief summary:

Background:

People with blood cancers often receive blood or bone marrow transplants. But even with these treatments, the risk of relapse is high. Researchers want to see if giving the transplant recipient an infusion of lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) from their transplant donor early after the transplant can reduce that risk.

Objective:

To learn if giving donor lymphocytes early after a transplant will help reduce the risk of relapse for people with certain blood cancers.

Eligibility:

Adults aged 18-65 with high-risk leukemia, lymphoma, myelodysplastic syndrome, or multiple myeloma that does not respond well to standard treatments and/or has a high risk of relapse. Healthy potential bone marrow and lymphocyte donor relatives aged 12 and older are also needed.

Design:

Participants will be screened with:

Physical exam

Blood and urine tests

Spinal tap

Eye exam

Dental exam

Heart and lung tests

Imaging scans. A radioactive substance may be injected in their arm if a PET scan is needed.

Bone marrow aspiration and biopsy

Some screening tests will be repeated during the study.

Participants will stay at the NIH hospital for about 4 weeks. They will receive a central venous catheter. They will get chemotherapy and other drugs starting 6 days before transplant. Then they will have their transplant. They will receive donor white blood cells 7 days later. They will give blood, bone marrow, urine, and stool samples for research. They must stay near NIH for at least 100 days after transplant.

Participants will have periodic follow-up visits for 5 years.

Healthy donors will have 2-3 visits. They will give blood, bone marrow, white blood cells, and stool samples for research.

Participation will last for 5 years....

Conditions

Hematologic Neoplasms

Study ID

NCT05327023

Start date

May 23, 2022

Status verified date

Jul 22, 2026

Completion date

Jul 2, 2029

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jul 3, 2028

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 12 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

  • INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Inclusion Criteria - Recipient

  • Histologically or cytologically confirmed hematologic malignancy classified as high or very high disease risk by the Refined Disease Risk Index for HCT including one of the following:
  • Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with favorable cytogenetics (t(8;21), inv(16), t(15,17)) with induction failure (persistent disease without first achieving remission of any type) or active relapse
  • AML with intermediate cytogenetics (not classified as favorable or adverse) with induction failure or active relapse (AML with intermediate cytogenetics in morphologic complete remission \[CR\] with minimal residual disease detectable by any modality also will be eligible)
  • AML with adverse cytogenetics (complex karyotype with >= 4 abnormalities) regardless of remission status
  • Low risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) (<= 5% blasts, including chronic myelomonocytic leukemia) with adverse cytogenetics (abnormal chromosome 7 or >= 4 abnormalities) with induction failure or active relapse
  • High risk MDS (RAEB-1 or RAEB-2) with intermediate-risk cytogenetics (no abnormal chromosome 7 or < 4 abnormalities) with induction failure or active relapse
  • High risk MDS (RAEB-1 or RAEB-2) with adverse cytogenetics (abnormal chromosome 7 or >= 4 abnormalities) regardless of remission status
  • Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in CR >= 2 or with induction failure or active relapse (ALL in CR1 with minimal residual disease detected also will be eligible)
  • Chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML) in blast crisis phase
  • Hodgkin lymphoma with stable or progressive disease
  • Mantle cell lymphoma with stable or progressive disease
  • Relapsed Burkitt lymphoma in CR or partial remission (PR)
  • Aggressive B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) (e.g., diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, transformed indolent B-cell lymphoma) with stable or progressive disease
  • T-cell NHL with stable or progressive disease
  • Multiple myeloma (MM) with induction failure as defined by failure to achieve minimal response (CR, Very Good Partial Response \[VGPR\], or PR) or the development of progressive disease on primary therapy, or MM with active relapse as defined by previously treated myeloma that achieved a molecular response or better that then progressed
  • Age 18-65 years.
  • At least one potentially suitable HLA-haploidentical or HLA-matched donor
  • Karnofsky performance score >=60%
  • Recipient participants must have adequate organ function as defined below:
  • Cardiac ejection fraction >=45% by 2D ECHO;
  • Forced expiratory volume-1 (FEV-1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) (corrected for hemoglobin) all of >=50% predicted;
  • Estimated serum creatinine clearance of >=60 ml/minute/1.73m2 calculated using eGFR in the clinical lab;
  • Total bilirubin <=2X the upper limit of normal;
  • Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) <=3X the upper limit of normal.
  • Myeloablative conditioning is toxic to the developing human fetus and is teratogenic. For this reason, the following measures apply:
  • Women of child-bearing potential (WOCBP) and men must agree to use highly effective contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for at least one-year post-transplant.
  • WOCBP must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test within 7 days prior to enrollment.

Inclusion Criteria - Donor

-Related donor (age >=12) deemed suitable, eligible, and willing to donate, per clinical evaluations, who are additionally willing to donate blood, bone marrow, and stool for research. Related donors will be evaluated in accordance with existing Standard Policies and Procedures for determination of eligibility and suitability for clinical donation.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Exclusion Criteria - Recipient

  • Subjects who are receiving any other investigational agents. Prior experimental therapies must have been completed at least 3 weeks prior to the date of beginning conditioning.
  • Prior myeloablative conditioning for autologous or allogeneic HCT.
  • Active breastfeeding.
  • Active malignancy of non-hematopoietic type (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers) which is metastatic, relapsed/refractory to treatment, or locally advanced and not amenable to curative treatment. This excludes non-melanoma skin cancers.
  • Uncontrolled intercurrent illness (e.g. severe endocrinopathy, disseminated intravascular coagulation, profound electrolyte disturbance, active hepatitis, uncontrolled dental infection) that in the opinion of the PI would make it unsafe to proceed with transplantation.

Exclusion Criteria - Donor

None.

Study Design

Enrollment

430 participants

Anticipated

Intervention Model

Sequential

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

no intervention: Donor Arm

Donors for Recipients in Arms 1-4

experimental: Phase I Dose Escalation, Cohort 1 (matched)

DLI at escalating doses (1 x 10\^6 CD3+ cells/kg, 3 x 10\^6 CD3+ cells/kg, and 1 x 10\^7 CD3+ cells/kg) on day +7 or +21 to assess for safety and determine Phase II dose (up to 18 evaluable patients)

experimental: Phase I Dose Escalation, Cohort 2 (haploidentical)

DLI at escalating doses (1 x 10\^5 CD3+ cells/kg, 3 x 10\^5 CD3+ cells/kg, and 1 x 10\^6 CD3+ cells/kg) on day +7 or +21 to assess for safety and determine Phase II dose (up to 18 evaluable patients)

experimental: Phase II Efficacy, Cohort 1 (matched)

DLI at maximally tolerated, safe dose (from Phase I) to assess secondary clinical outcomes at this dosing level (up to 14 additional evaluable patients in each cohort)

experimental: Phase II Efficacy, Cohort 2 (haploidentical)

DLI at maximally tolerated, safe dose (from Phase I) to assess secondary clinical outcomes at this dosing level (up to 14 additional evaluable patients in each cohort)

Interventions

donor lymphocyte infusion

The DLI will be given on Day +7 (Day +21 for dose level -1). If a recipient participant is deemed too critically ill/unstable to receive DLI on the protocol specified day, the DLI will be delayed up to 4 days at the discretion of the PI and given within this time frame once the recipient participant s clinical status has stabilized or improved. If the DLI cannot be given during this time frame, the recipient participant will be taken off study and not considered evaluable for DLT, outcomes, or adverse events since the experimental intervention will not have been given.

Cyclophosphamide

HLA-matched: 50 mg/kg IV once daily over 2 hours on days +3 and +4a Cyclophosphamide will be dosed according to ideal body weight. HLA haploidentical: 25 mg/kg IV once daily over 2 hours on days +3 and +4a Cyclophosphamide will be dosed according to ideal body weight.

Busulfan

AUC targeted dose based on busulfan test dose, with a default dose of 130 mg/m2/day, given as IV infusion over 3 hours each day for 4 days Transplant days -6 through day -3

Mycophenolate mofetil

15 mg/kg orally or IV three times daily (max 1000 mg/dose) starting on day +5, continued through day +35. Dosing will be according to actual body weight.

Fludarabine

40 mg/m2 IV infusion over 30-60 minutes once daily for 4 days Transplant days -6 through -3

Sirolimus

Loading dose of 6 mg orally given on day +5 (calculated based on actual body weight, maximum initial dose 6 mg), then maintenance dose starting at 2 mg orally daily on day +6 with dose adjustments to maintain a trough of 5-12 ng/ml, continued through day +70 with no taper. Doses should be modified as appropriate for drug interactions.

Primary outcome measure

  • determine the maximally tolerated dose of DLI that can be safely administered after HLA-matched-related HCT and after HLA-haploidentical HCT [ Time Frame: 60 days ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Locations

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center

Recruiting

Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20892

Contacts

For more information at the NIH Clinical Center contact National Cancer Institute Referral Office

888-624-1937

More Information

Sponsor

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Last update posted

Jul 30, 2026

Last verified

Jul 22, 2026

Keywords

  • Prophylactic Donor Lymphocyte Infusions
  • Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease
  • Immunotherapeutic Strategies
  • myeloablative conditioning
  • Steroid-Refractory Grade

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by National Cancer Institute (NCI) on 2026-07-30.