ClinicalTrials.gg
Active, not recruitingNCT03434769Updated Feb 27, 2026

AntiCD19 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells for Relapsed or Refractory Non Hodgkin Lymphoma

A Phase 1 interventional study of Cyclophosphamide and Fludarabine in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, sponsored by Benjamin Tomlinson. Active, not recruiting at 2 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-02-27.

Sponsored by Benjamin Tomlinson · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
31
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to determine if it is possible to treat your cancer with a new type of T cell-based immunotherapy (therapy that uses your immune system to treat the cancer). T cells are a type of white blood cell that helps the body fight infections. This treatment uses T cells already present within your body that have been modified outside of the body and returned to target your cancer. This type of treatment is sometimes referred to as adoptive cell transfer (ACT). In this study the specific type of cells that will be used is called chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR T cells). Another purpose of this study is to learn about the side effects and toxicities related to this treatment.

Read the detailed description

Primary Objective: To determine the safety of the treatment of relapsed or refractory B cell lymphomas with chimeric antigen receptor T cells targeting cluster of differentiation antigen 19 (CD19) and to find the recommended phase II dose for this cellular therapy

Secondary Objectives

  • To describe the safety profile of the infusion of CAR-T cells targeting CD19.
  • To describe the toxicities related to infusion of CAR-T cells targeting CD19.
  • To describe the overall response rate and complete response rate of relapsed B cell malignancies treated with CAR-T cells targeting CD19.
02

Conditions studied

  • Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Keywords

  • Cyclophosphamide
  • Fludarabine
  • Chimeric antigen receptor T cells
03

In context

Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin

2,287 studies on the registry are indexed under Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin; 287 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 31 is below the median of 40 across 1,883 interventional studies indexed under Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin.

Browse Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin studies →

Lead sponsor

Benjamin Tomlinson is the lead sponsor of 4 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Subjects must have non-Hodgkin lymphoma treated with at least two . Disease must have either progressed after the last regimen or presented failure to achieve partial or complete remission with the last regimen.
  • The patient's lymphoma must be CD19 positive, either by immunohistochemistry or flow cytometry analysis on the last available.
  • (ECOG) Performance status ≤ 2
  • Total ≤ 1.5 times the institutional
  • (AST or SGOT) ≤ 3 X institutional upper limit of normal
  • Alanine transaminase (ALT or SGPT) ≤ 3 X institutional upper limit of normal
  • Serum Creatinine ≤ 2 X the institutional upper limit of normal
  • Subjects must have the following hematologic function parameters:

    • (ANC)>1,000/uL
    • Absolute Lymphocyte Count >100/uL
    • >50,000/uL
  • Subjects must have the ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written document.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • transplant within 6 weeks of planned CAR-T cell infusion
  • History of allogeneic stem cell transplant.
  • Recipient of CAR-T cell therapy outside of this protocol.
  • Active central nervous system or meningeal involvement by lymphoma. Subjects with untreated or central nervous system (CNS) disease will be excluded from this clinical trial because of their poor prognosis and because they often develop progressive neurologic dysfunction that would confound the evaluation of neurologic and other adverse events. Patients with a history of CNS or meningeal involvement must be in a documented remission by cerebrospinal fluid evaluation and contrast-enhanced MRI imaging for at least 90 days prior to registration.
  • Active , other than non-melanoma skin cancer, carcinoma in situ (e.g. cervix, bladder, breast).
  • seropositivity
  • Subjects with uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, pulmonary abnormalities or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements.
  • Pregnant or breastfeeding women are excluded from this study because CAR-T cell therapy may be associated with the potential for teratogenic or abortifacient effects. Women of child bearing potential must have a negative serum pregnancy test. Because there is an unknown, but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with CAR-T cells, breastfeeding should be discontinued. These potential risks may also apply to other agents used in this study.
  • Evidence of myelodysplasia or cytogenetic abnormality indicative of myelodysplasia on any bone marrow prior to initiation of therapy
  • Serologic status reflecting active or C infection. Patients that are positive for hepatitis B core antibody, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), or antibody must have a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) prior to enrollment. (PCR positive patients will be excluded.)
  • Patients with history of CNS pathology such as epilepsy, seizure disorders, paresis, aphasia, uncontrolled cerebrovascular disease, severe brain injuries, dementia and Parkinson's disease.
  • History of disease (i.e. rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus) with requirement of medication within 6 months.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(19)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Relapsed and refractory

Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.

Line of therapy

A line of therapy is one course of treatment, which may combine several drugs. First-line is the first course given; second-line follows when that stops working or is not tolerated.

“Two prior lines” means two courses that count separately under the study’s rules — not simply two drugs. Ask the study team if you are unsure how yours are counted.

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Allogeneic and autologous transplant

Stem cell (bone marrow) transplants. Allogeneic uses cells from a donor; autologous uses your own cells, collected earlier and given back.

Brain metastases

Cancer deposits in the brain from a cancer that started elsewhere in the body (CNS metastases include the spinal cord).

Studies differ: some leave out any brain metastases, some accept ones treated and stable for some weeks. Check what this study allows.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
31 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Cyclophosphamide + Fludarabine + Infusion of CAR-T Cells

    Lymphodepletive regimen, consisting of Cyclophosphamide 60mg/kg IV on day -6 and Fludarabine 25mg/m2 IV on days -5 to -3. Followed by infusion of Chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR-T) on day 0

    Drug: Cyclophosphamide · Drug: Fludarabine · Biological: CAR-T Cells

Interventions

  • Cyclophosphamide 60mg/Kg on day -6

    Also known as: Cytoxan, Endoxan, Neosar, Procytox, Revimmune, Cycloblastin

  • Fludarabine 25mg/m\^2 IV on days -5 to -3

    Also known as: Fludara

  • BiologicalCAR-T Cells

    Chimeric antigen receptor T cells to be implemented in a "3 + 3" design on day 0 Level -1 (1 x 105 cells/kg) Level 1 \[Starting dose\] (5 x 105 cells/kg) Level 2 (1 x 106 cells/kg) Level 3 (2 x 106 cells/kg)

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of patients with Lymphoma response

    The 2014 Lugano Response for Malignant Lymphoma will be used the following categories of response: : Complete Response (CR), Partial Response (PR), Stable Disease (SD), Relapse and Progression (PD).

    Time frame: Up to 12 months after getting CAR-T infusion

Secondary outcomes

  1. Duration of response

    This is measured, only in responders, from the documented beginning of response (CR or PR) to the time of relapse.

    Time frame: Up to 12 months after getting CAR-T infusion

  2. Disease-free survival

    Survival is defined as the date of study entry to the date of death. Disease-free survival is measured from the time of occurrence of disease-free state to disease recurrence or death from lymphoma or acute toxicity of treatment.

    Time frame: Up to 12 months after getting CAR-T infusion

  3. Disease-specific survival

    To minimize the risk of bias, the event should be recorded as death from lymphoma, or from toxicity from the drug. Death from unknown causes should be attributed to the drug.

    Time frame: Up to 12 months after getting CAR-T infusion

  4. Progression-free survival

    Progression-free Survival (PFS) is defined as the time from entry onto study until lymphoma progression or death from any cause.

    Time frame: Up to 12 months after getting CAR-T infusion

  5. Time to progression

    Time to progression (TTP) is defined as the time from study entry until lymphoma progression or death due to lymphoma.

    Time frame: Up to 12 months after getting CAR-T infusion

  6. Time to treatment failure

    Time to treatment failure (event-free survival) is measured from the time from study entry to any treatment failure including discontinuation of treatment for any reason

    Time frame: Up to 12 months after getting CAR-T infusion

07

Study locations

2 sites
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Ghobadi A, Caimi PF, Reese JS, Goparaju K, di Trani M, Ritchey J, Jackson Z, Tomlinson B, Schiavone JM, Kleinsorge-Block S, Zamborsky K, Eissenberg L, Schneider D, Boughan KM, Zabor EC, Metheny L, Gallogly M, Kruger W, Kadan M, Worden A S A, Sharma A, Cooper BW, Otegbeye F, Sekaly RP, Wald DN, Carlo-Stella C, DiPersio J, Orentas R, Dropulic B, de Lima M. Treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma with point-of-care manufactured CAR T cells: a dual institution, phase 1 trial. EClinicalMedicine. 2025 Mar 4;81:103138. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2025.103138. eCollection 2025 Mar. PubMed 40115173 ↗
  • Maschan M, Caimi PF, Reese-Koc J, Sanchez GP, Sharma AA, Molostova O, Shelikhova L, Pershin D, Stepanov A, Muzalevskii Y, Suzart VG, Otegbeye F, Wald D, Xiong Y, Wu D, Knight A, Oparaocha I, Ferencz B, Roy A, Worden A, Kruger W, Kadan M, Schneider D, Orentas R, Sekaly RP, de Lima M, Dropulic B. Multiple site place-of-care manufactured anti-CD19 CAR-T cells induce high remission rates in B-cell malignancy patients. Nat Commun. 2021 Dec 10;12(1):7200. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-27312-6. PubMed 34893603 ↗
09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Jul 2018 to primary completion in Mar 2023, 55 months.

Of 123 non-industry phase 1 interventional studies under Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin, half reached primary completion within 57 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 39 and three quarters within 79. This study's 55 months is close to that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 286 studies reached it within 53 months; a quarter within 38 and three quarters within 73.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Feb 9, 2018
First posted
Feb 15, 2018
StartActual
Jul 9, 2018
Primary completionActual
Mar 1, 2023
CompletionEst.
Feb 2036
Last update
Feb 27, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 27, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03434769
Lead sponsor
Benjamin Tomlinson
Responsible party
Benjamin Tomlinson (Principal Investigator, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Feb 15, 2018
Start date
Jul 9, 2018
Primary completion
Mar 1, 2023
Completion
Feb 2036 (estimated)
Last update
Feb 27, 2026

Study contacts

Benjamin Tomlinson, MD
principal investigator · University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Feb 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

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Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Studies of the drugs tested here: Cyclophosphamide · Fludarabine · Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells

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