CClinicalTrials.gg
Active, not recruitingNCT03475212ACESUpdated May 11, 2025

Antiviral Cellular Therapy for Enhancing T-cell Reconstitution Before or After Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

A Phase 1/2 interventional study of Virus Specific T-cell (VST) infusion in Cytomegalovirus Infections, Adenovirus Infection and EBV Infection, sponsored by Pediatric Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Consortium. Active, not recruiting at 30 sites in United States. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-05-11.

Sponsored by Pediatric Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Consortium · Phase 1/2, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 1/2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
52
Allocation
Not applicable
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether virus-specific T cell lines (VSTs) are safe and can effectively control three viruses (EBV, CMV, and adenovirus) in patients who have had a stem cell transplant and also in patients that have a primary immunodeficiency disorder with no prior stem cell transplant.

Read the detailed description

The primary purpose of the study is to evaluate whether most closely HLA-matched multivirus-specific T cell lines obtained from a bank of allogeneic virus-specific T cell lines (VSTs) have antiviral activity against three viruses: EBV, CMV and adenovirus.

Reconstitution of anti-viral immunity by donor-derived VSTs has shown promise in preventing and treating infections associated with CMV, EBV and adenovirus post-transplant. However, the time required to prepare patient-specific products and lack of virus-specific memory T cells in cord blood and seronegative donors, limits their value. An alternative is to use banked partially HLA-matched allogeneic VSTs. A prior phase II study at Baylor College of Medicine using trivirus-specific VSTs generated using monocytes and EBV-transformed B cells gene-modified with a clinical grade adenoviral vector expressing CMV-pp65 to activate and expand specific T cells showed the feasibility, safety and activity of this approach for the treatment of refractory CMV, EBV and Adenovirus infections. More recent protocols utilizing synthetic viral peptide pools allow ex vivo expansion of T-cells targeting multiple viral antigens in 10-12 days without use of viral transduction.

The study will evaluate whether partially-HLA matched allogeneic multivirus-specific VSTs, activated using overlapping peptide libraries spanning immunogenic antigens from CMV, adenovirus and EBV, will be safe and produce anti-viral effects in immunodeficient recipients infected with one of more of the targeted viruses that are persistent despite conventional anti-viral therapy.

This study will evaluate safety and efficacy of partially-matched VST therapy in A) patients who have persistent viral infections in the post-HSCT period, and B) patients with primary immunodeficiency conditions who have persistent viral infections and have not undergone HSCT.

The study agent will be assessed for safety and antiviral activity.

02

Conditions studied

  • Cytomegalovirus Infections
  • Adenovirus Infection
  • EBV Infection

Keywords

  • Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant
  • Primary Immune Deficiency Disease
03

Who can participate

Ages eligible
Child (0–17), Adult (18–64), Older adult (65+)
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

Patients who have received any type of allogeneic transplant or who have a primary immunodeficiency disorder will be eligible if they have CMV, adenovirus, and/or EBV infection/disease with failure of treatment after 7 days of standard therapy OR if unable to tolerate standard therapy.

  • Patients must meet one of the following criteria:

    • Recipient of prior myeloablative or non-myeloablative allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant using either bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell or single or double cord blood within the previous 18 months, OR
    • Have a diagnosed primary immunodeficiency disorder (as defined by clinical and laboratory evaluations) and not undergone HSCT.
  • Treatment of the following persistent or relapsed infections despite standard therapy:

    • CMV: Treatment of persistent or relapsed CMV disease or infection after standard therapy. For CMV infection, standard therapy is defined as antiviral therapy with ganciclovir, foscarnet or cidofovir for at least 14 days.
    • Adenovirus: Treatment of persistent or relapsed adenovirus infection or disease despite standard therapy. Standard therapy is defined as antiviral therapy with cidofovir or brincidofovir.
    • EBV: Treatment of persistent or relapsed EBV infection despite standard therapy.

For EBV infection, standard therapy is defined as rituximab given at 375 mg/m2 in patients for 1-4 doses with a CD20+ tumor.

Additional Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with simultaneous infections with CMV, EBV and/or Adenovirus infections are eligible if one or more infection(s) is persistent or relapsed despite standard therapy as defined above. Patients with multiple infections with one or more reactivation and one or more controlled infection are eligible to enroll.
  • Clinical status at enrollment that allows tapering of steroids to equal or less than 0.5 mg/kg/day prednisone (or equivalent) prior to infusion of the VST doses.
  • Negative pregnancy test in female patients if applicable (childbearing potential who have received a reduced intensity conditioning regimen).
  • Written informed consent and/or signed assent line from patient, parent or guardian.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria

  • Patients receiving ATG, Campath, Basiliximab or other immunosuppressive monoclonal antibodies targeting T-cells within 28 days of screening for enrollment.
  • Patients who have received donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) or other experimental cellular therapies within 28 days.
  • Current therapy with ruxolitinib or other JAK inhibitors within the previous 3 days.
  • Patients with other uncontrolled infections, defined as bacterial or fungal infections with clinical signs of worsening despite standard therapy. For bacterial infections, patients must be receiving definitive therapy and have no signs of progressing infection for 72 hours prior to enrollment. For fungal infections, patients must be receiving definitive systemic anti-fungal therapy and have no signs of progressing infection for 1 week prior to enrollment.
  • Progressing infection is defined as hemodynamic instability, worsening physical signs, or radiographic findings attributable to infection. Persisting fever without other signs or symptoms will not be interpreted as progressing infection.
  • Patients with active and uncontrolled relapse of malignancy (if applicable).
04

Study design

Phase
Phase 1 / Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
52 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Virus specific T cell lines (VSTs) against three viruses

    The study will evaluate whether partially-HLA matched allogeneic multivirus-specific VSTs, activated using overlapping peptide libraries spanning immunogenic antigens from CMV, adenovirus and EBV, will be safe and produce anti-viral effects in immunodeficient recipients infected with one of more of the targeted viruses that are persistent despite conventional anti-viral therapy.

    Biological: Virus Specific T-cell (VST) infusion

Interventions

  • BiologicalVirus Specific T-cell (VST) infusion

    Patients will receive partially HLA-matched VSTs as a single infusion. Patients who have a partial response (\>1 log decrease in viral load without clearance) or no response and do not have treatment-related dose-limiting toxicities are eligible to receive up to 3 additional doses from day 30 after the initial infusion and at 2 weekly intervals thereafter. The viral load of the virus (or viruses) that patients are initially treated for are monitored by viral PCR.

05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Feasibility to identify suitable HLA matched VST products

    Feasibility will be defined as the ability of the investigators to identify suitable partially HLA- matched VST products from the VST bank at Children's National Medical Center for referred study subjects. The percentage of referred patients with potential partially-matched VST products identified will be recorded, as will timing between patient referral and treatment.

    Time frame: 30 days

  2. Incidence of Treatment-Emergent Adverse Events

    The safety endpoint, dose-limiting toxicity (DLT), will be defined as acute GvHD grades III-IV or grades 3-5 infusion-related adverse events or grades 4-5 non-hematological adverse events related to the T cell product within 30 days of each VST dose and that are not due to the pre-existing infection or the original malignancy or pre-existing co-morbidities as defined by the NCI Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE), Version 4.03.

    Time frame: 30 days

  3. Efficacy of VST at 30 days as measured by viral load

    Peripheral blood and, where relevant, stool and urine will be monitored for CMV, EBV, and/or adenovirus viral load. For patients with multiple viral infections, the response against the primary viral target will determine the classification. For the infection under treatment response in viral load will be assessed at 30 days after the first VST infusion

    Time frame: 30 days

Secondary outcomes

  1. Reconstitution of Antiviral Immunity following VST infusions

    Patient serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells will be monitored for virus-specific activity during the 3 months following VST infusion by the following measures: 1. T cell phenotyping by flow cytometry (including % CD3, CD4, CD8, TCRalpha/beta and CD45RA-/CCR7+, among other markers) 2. Antiviral T cell responses to CMV, EBV, and/or Adenovirus antigens by IGN-g ELIspot (spot forming units) and Intracellular cytokine staining ( %IFN-gamma and TFNa+ of CD4 and CD8 cells) 3. T cell repertoire and antiviral specificity by TCR sequencing (%clonotype frequencies)

    Time frame: 3 months

  2. Persistence of infused VSTs

    Persistence of infused T cells will be monitored at 1 month and 3 months following VST infusion using deep sequencing and additional tests as indicated to track the TCR v-beta repertoire in the patient peripheral blood prior to and post-infusion.

    Time frame: 1 month and 3 months

  3. Effects on Clinical Signs of Viral Infection

    If a patient has organ involvement, clinical response will be monitored. For patients with EBV lymphoma and measurable disease, response will be assessed by RECIST criteria.

    Time frame: 3 months

  4. Survival

    Overall survival at 6 and 12 months post VST infusion will be computed.

    Time frame: 6 months and 12 months

06

Study locations

30 sites
  • Phoenix Children's Hospital
    Phoenix, Arizona 85016, United States
  • City of Hope
    Duarte, California 91010, United States
  • University of California, Los Angeles
    Los Angeles, California 90095, United States
  • Children's Hospital Los Angeles
    Los Angeles, California 91016, United States
  • Stanford Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
    Palo Alto, California 94304, United States
  • UCSF Medical Center
    San Francisco, California 94123, United States
  • Children's Hospital Colorado
    Aurora, Colorado 80045, United States
  • Yale
    New Haven, Connecticut 06520, United States
  • Children's National Medical Center
    Washington, DC, District of Columbia 20010, United States
  • Emory University/Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
    Atlanta, Georgia 30322, United States
  • Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
    Chicago, Illinois 60611, United States
  • Riley Hospital for Children - Indiana University
    Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, United States
  • Tufts Medical Center
    Boston, Massachusetts 02111, United States
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/ Boston Children's Hospital
    Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
  • University of Michigan
    Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
  • Spectrum Health - Helen DeVos Children's Hospital
    Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, United States
  • University of Minnesota
    Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
  • Washington University
    Saint Louis, Missouri 63110, United States
  • Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
    Buffalo, New York 14263, United States
  • Columbia University Medical Center
    New York, New York 10032, United States
  • Duke University Medical Center
    Durham, North Carolina 27705, United States
  • Oregon Health & Science University
    Portland, Oregon 97239, United States
  • The Children's Hospital
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States
  • Medical University of South Carolina
    Charleston, South Carolina 29425, United States
  • St. Jude
    Memphis, Tennessee 38105, United States
  • UT Southwestern Medical Center
    Dallas, Texas 75390, United States
  • Children's Mercy
    San Antonio, Texas 78229, United States
  • Methodist Healthcare System of San Antonio
    San Antonio, Texas 78229, United States
  • Virginia Commonwealth University
    Richmond, Virginia 23298, United States
  • Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Chlindren's/University of Washington School of Medicine
    Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
07

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

08

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03475212
Lead sponsor
Pediatric Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Consortium
Responsible party
Michael Pulsipher (Sponsor-Investigator, Protocol Co-Chair, Children's Hospital Los Angeles) — Principal investigator
First posted
Mar 23, 2018
Start date
Jun 20, 2018
Primary completion
Jun 30, 2025 (estimated)
Completion
Jun 30, 2025 (estimated)
Last update
May 11, 2025

Study contacts

Michael Pulsipher, MD
study chair · Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Michael Keller, MD
study chair · Children's National Research Institute

Oversight

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

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This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Mar 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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