A Phase 1/2 interventional study of Busulfan and Fludarabine in Graft Versus Host Disease and Hematologic Neoplasms, sponsored by National Cancer Institute (NCI). Active, not recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 12 Years to 120 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-12-26.
Sponsored by National Cancer Institute (NCI) · Phase 1/2, Interventional, and Treatment
Background:
Stem cell or bone marrow transplants can cure or control blood cancers. Sometimes the donor cells see the recipient's body as foreign. This can cause complications. A high dose of the drug cyclophosphamide (PTCy) can help reduce these risks. Researchers want to see if a lower dose of PTCy can have the same benefits. Based on encouraging results from the first part of the study, researchers now are investigating whether a lower dose of PTCy can allow other immunosuppression to be decreased.
Objective:
To see if a lower dose of PTCy and now also shorter duration of another immunosuppressant called mycophenolate mofetil will help people with blood cancers have a more successful transplant and fewer side effects.
Eligibility:
People ages 15-65 with leukemia, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma that is not curable with standard therapy and is at high risk of returning without transplant, and their healthy adult relatives
Design:
Transplant participants will be screened with:
Blood, urine, breathing, and heart tests
Scans
Chest x-ray
Bone marrow samples: A needle inserted into the participant s pelvis will remove marrow and a bone fragment.
Transplant recipients will stay at the hospital and be prepped with chemotherapy over 6 days for the transplant. They will get stem cells through a catheter in the chest or neck. They will get the cyclophosphamide chemotherapy. They will stay in the hospital about 4 more weeks. They will have blood transfusions. They will have frequent blood tests and 2 bone marrow samples within 1 year after the transplant.
Donor participants will be screened with:
Blood, urine, and heart tests
Chest x-ray
Scans
Donor participants will have bone marrow taken from their pelvis or stem cells taken from their blood. For the blood donation, blood will be taken from a vein in one arm, move through a machine to remove white blood cells, and be returned through a vein in the other arm.
Participation will last up to 5 years....
Background:
Post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCy) reduces rates of severe acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and safely facilitates human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-haploidentical HCT
When clinically translated, the dose (50 mg/kg) and timing (days +3 and +4) of PTCy used were partly extrapolated from murine major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-matched skin allografting models and were partly empirical
In both MHC-haploidentical and MHC-disparate murine HCT models, a dose of 25 mg/kg/day was superior to 50 mg/kg/day on days +3 and +4 in terms of GVHD severity and mortality
In the MHC-haploidentical HCT model, a dose of 25 mg/kg on day +4 was equivalent to 25 mg/kg/day on days +3 and +4
In addition to better GVHD prevention, lower dosing of PTCy is associated with less broad reduction of T-cell numbers after PTCy
Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), used as adjunct immunosuppression with standard dose PTCy, can have substantial gastrointestinal toxicity and can impede immune reconstitution and pathogen-specific immunity.
Objectives:
Determine whether a dose of PTCy 25 mg/kg on day +3 and +4 or on day +4 only can maintain adequate protection against grade III-IV acute GVHD.
Determine whether a reduced duration of MMF, in combination with PTCy 25 mg/kg/day on days +3 and +4, can maintain adequate protection against grade III-IV acute GVHD.
Eligibility:
Histologically or cytologically confirmed hematologic malignancy with standard indication for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation including one of the following:
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) of intermediate or adverse risk disease by the 2017 European LeukemiaNet criteria in first morphologic complete remission
AML of any risk in second or subsequent morphologic complete remission
B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in first or subsequent complete remission
T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia with minimal residual disease detected after first line therapy and/or adverse genetics
Myelodysplastic syndrome of intermediate or higher score by the Revised International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-R)
Primary myelofibrosis of intermediate-2 or higher risk by the Dynamic International Prognostic Scoring System (DIPSS)
Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia
Chronic myelogenous leukemia resistant to or intolerant of >=3 tyrosine kinase inhibitors or with prior history of accelerated phase or blast crisis
B-cell lymphoma including Hodgkin lymphoma that has relapsed within 1 year of completion of primary treatment
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia with 17p deletion and/or unmutated IgHV or refractory to or intolerant of both BTK and PI3K inhibitors
Mature T or NK neoplasms as defined in the WHO guidelines of sufficient type and severity for allogeneic HCT based on the Prognostic Index for T-cell lymphoma (PIT) score of low-intermediate risk or higher or on recently published clinical practice guidelines
Hematologic malignancy of dendritic cell or histiocytic cell type
Multiple myeloma, stage III, relapsing after therapy with both a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory drug (IMiD)
Age 15-65.
At least one potentially suitable HLA-haploidentical donor.
Karnofsky performance score >=60
Adequate organ function
Design:
Open-label, single-center, non-randomized, phase I/II study
All patients will receive myeloablative conditioning, HLA-haploidentical bone marrow HCT, and GVHD prophylaxis with PTCy, MMF (depending on cohort), and sirolimus.
A small pilot of 5 evaluable patients will receive the standard PTCy 50 mg/kg on days +3/+4 to obtain a limited amount of comparative pharmacokinetic and T-cell immunophenotyping and repertoire data.
Then the study will proceed to a small, two-level [1) 25 mg/kg/day on days +3 and +4, 2) 25 mg/kg on day +4 only] phase I dose de-escalation study based on the standard 3+3 approach
Patients will be evaluated for development of grade III-IV acute GVHD (aGVHD) at day +60 as the dose-limiting toxicity and then phase II will proceed with the shorter duration of the days of treatment (+3/+4 or +4) which is associated with 0-1 of 6 patients with grade III-IV aGVHD at day +60 and with the least amount of toxicity
Simon optimal two-stage phase II trial design, to rule out excess grade III-IV acute GVHD with this decreased PTCy exposure, will be used in the phase II portion of the study which will enroll an additional 14 patients to see if this lower PTCy exposure is associated with a similar rate of grade III-IV acute GVHD as is expected with 50 mg/kg on days +3/+4
Following completion of the phase II portion of the trial evaluating PTCy 25 mg/kg/day on days +3/+4, a dose de-escalation will be conducted to determine if the dose of MMF (standardly days +5 to +35) may be reduced without meaningful impact on avoidance of grade III-IV acute GVHD. The tested dose levels will be 1) MMF from days +5 to +18 and 2) no MMF. This will be followed by a second Simon optimal two-stage phase II trial design, to rule out excess grade III-IV acute GVHD with decreased MMF exposure, which will expand on the lowest MMF dose that is associated with acceptable toxicity and enroll an additional 14 patients to see if this lower MMF is associated with a similar rate of grade III-IV acute GVHD as is expected with full 30 day MMF treatment.
806 studies on the registry are indexed under Graft vs Host Disease; 138 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 105 is above the median of 35 across 637 interventional studies indexed under Graft vs Host Disease.
Browse Graft vs Host Disease studies →National Cancer Institute (NCI) is the lead sponsor of 3,506 studies on the registry; 334 are open to participants now.
Of its 402 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 365 (91%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Inclusion Criteria - Recipient
Patients must have a histologically or cytologically confirmed hematologic malignancy with standard indication for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation limited to one of the following:
Adequate organ function defined as possessing all of the following:
Myeloablative conditioning is toxic to the developing human fetus and is teratogenic. For this reason, the following measures apply:
EXCLUSION CRITERIA:
Exclusion Criteria - Recipient
INCLUSION CRITERIA:
Inclusion Criteria - Related Donor
EXCLUSION CRITERIA:
Exclusion Criteria - Related Donor
-None
Collection of bone marrow and/or PBSC (Up to 40 donors)
PTCy at de-escalating doses (25 mg/kg/day on days +3 and +4, and PTCy 25 mg/kg on day +4) to assess for safety and determine Phase II dose (up to 12 evaluable patients)
Drug: Busulfan · Drug: Fludarabine · Drug: Cyclophosphamide · Drug: Mycophenolate Mofetil · Drug: Sirolimus
MMF at de-escalating duration (days +5 to +18 only, no MMF))
Drug: Busulfan · Drug: Fludarabine · Drug: Cyclophosphamide · Drug: Mycophenolate Mofetil · Drug: Sirolimus
Standard PTCy 50 mg/kg/day on days +3 and +4, in a small pilot (up to 5 evaluable patients) for comparative data
Drug: Busulfan · Drug: Fludarabine · Drug: Cyclophosphamide · Drug: Mycophenolate Mofetil · Drug: Sirolimus
PTCy at shortest duration, safe dose (from Phase I) to assess efficacy at providing adequate protection from grade 3-4 acute GVHD (up to 14 additional patients)
Drug: Busulfan · Drug: Fludarabine · Drug: Cyclophosphamide · Drug: Mycophenolate Mofetil · Drug: Sirolimus
MMF at duration identified from de-escalation evaluation.
Drug: Busulfan · Drug: Fludarabine · Drug: Cyclophosphamide · Drug: Mycophenolate Mofetil · Drug: Sirolimus
Busulfan should be administered intravenously via a central venous catheter as a three-hour infusion every 24 hours.
Fludarabine will be infused by IV over 60 minutes.
IV cyclophosphamide will be administered over 2 hours. Slower rates of infusion may be used to decrease side effects. A fluid intake of greater than 2 L/day is recommended during and for 1 to 2 days after cyclophosphamide administration.
Any oral formulation should be taken on an empty stomach, 1 hour before or at least 2 hours after meals. Oral formulations should not be administered simultaneously with antacids. Avoid inhalation or direct contact with skin or mucous membranes of dry powder contained in capsules or suspension. IV solutions should be administered over at least two hours through either a peripheral or central vein and should not be administered by rapid or bolus injection.
Oral tablets should be administered approximately 4 hours after cyclosporine administration. Sirolimus is administered orally, once daily, without food. Patients unable to tolerate tablets may take the oral solution formulation.
aGVHD protection from a reduced duration of MMF, in combination with PTCy 25 mg/kg/day
The fraction of evaluable patients who experience grade III-IV aGVHD at day +60 will be determined and reported along with 80% and 95% two-sided confidence intervals. The MMF duration level patients may be compared with the PTCy dose level patients which serves as a baseline for standard duration MMF.
Time frame: 60 days
aGVHD protection from PTCy 25 mg/kg
The fraction of evaluable patients who experience grade III-IV aGVHD at day +60 will be determined and reported along with 80% and 95% two-sided confidence intervals.
Time frame: 60 days
Determine, at the PTCy dose or MMF duration used in phase II cohorts, the cumulative incidences
Rate and timing of neutrophil and platelet engraftment also will be evaluated descriptively, including fractions who attain each condition at day 28 and 100, along with 95% confidence intervals. Ranges and medians will be calculated only in engrafting patients. Grade II-IV aGVHD also will be evaluated descriptively including fractions who attain each condition at day 100 and 200 days, and 95% confidence intervals. Grade III-IV aGVHD also will be evaluated descriptively including fractions who attain each condition at day 100 and 200 days, and 95% confidence intervals
Time frame: 100 days
determine the shortest MMF duration without unacceptable acute GVHD to be used during phase II
The phase II MMF duration level patients may be compared with the phase II PTCy dose level patients which serves as a baseline for standard duration MMF.
Time frame: 60 days
Plan to share: Yes — All collected IPD will be shared. @@@@@@@@@@@@All IPD recorded in the medical record will be shared with intramural investigators upon request. In addition, all large scale genomic sequencing data will be shared with subscribers to dbGaP.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Sap, Icf
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Dec 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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National Cancer Institute (NCI)