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RecruitingNCT04293042BK-CTLsUpdated Jun 5, 2026

Treatment of BK Virus Infection With CTL Cells in Immunocompromised Transplant Patients

An Early Phase 1 interventional study of BK-virus specific CTLs in BK Polyomavirus, sponsored by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 5 Weeks to 25 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-05.

Sponsored by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia · Early Phase 1, Interventional, and Supportive care

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 3 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Oct 2019, registered Jan 2020).
  • Started Oct 2019; still recruiting 7 years later.
Phase
Early Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
20
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
5 Weeks to 25 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a pilot study using cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) manufactured with the Miltenyi CliniMACS Prodigy Gamma-capture system will be effective in decreasing specific viral load in patients with BK virus viremia and BK virus-associated symptoms post-allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), renal transplantation, and chemotherapy.

Read the detailed description

This open-label, single-arm clinical trial will assess the safety and efficacy of BK virus-specific CTLs isolated from whole blood or leukapheresis products. The BK virus -specific CTLs will be generated automatically by the CliniMACS® Prodigy using the CliniMACS Cytokine Capture System (IFNgamma) after incubation with MACS GMP PepTivator® Peptide Pools of BKV VP1 and BKV LT.

02

Conditions studied

  • BK Polyomavirus
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is the lead sponsor of 480 studies on the registry; 85 are open to participants now.

Of its 28 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 22 (79%) have results posted.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
5 Weeks to 25 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

Patient Eligibility

  • Patients with symptoms of cystitis and elevated BK virus DNA by screening PCR as above (section 4) post allogeneic HSCT, post chemotherapy

    1. Symptoms of cystitis may include: hematuria (microscopic or gross), pain with urination, frequency, bladder spasms.
    2. Patient may be otherwise treated for cystitis as per local institutional standards. Such treatments may include hydration, antiviral medications, or surgical intervention as deemed appropriate by treating physician.
  • Consent: Written informed consent given (by patient or legal representative) prior to any study-related procedures.
  • Performance Status > 30% (Lansky \< 16 yrs and Karnofsky > 16 yrs)
  • Age: 0.1 to 25 years
  • Females of childbearing potential with a negative urine pregnancy test.

Donor Eligibility

  • Related donor available with a T-cell response to the BK-virus MACS® PepTivator® antigen(s).

    1. Original allogeneic donor if available, IgG positive for BKV or confirmatory testing to respond to BKV MACS Peptivator®.
    2. Third Party Allogeneic Donor: If original donor is not available or does not have a T-cell response: third party allogeneic donor (family donor > 1 HLA A, B, DR match to recipient) with a T-cell response to the BK MACS® PepTivator.

      AND

  • Allogeneic donor disease screening is complete similar to hematopoietic stem cell donors (Appendix 1).

AND

  • Obtained informed consents by donor or donor legally authorized representative prior to donor collection.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

Patient exclusion criteria:

A patient meeting any of the following criteria is not eligible for the present study:

  • Patient with acute GVHD > grade 2 or extensive chronic GVHD at the time of BK Virus CTL infusion
  • Patient receiving steroids (>0.5 mg/kg prednisone equivalent) at the time of BK Virus CTL infusion or within 3 days of planned infusion.
  • Thymoglobulin (ATG), campath or T cell immunosuppressive monoclonal antibodies within 30 days
  • Patient with poor performance status determined by Karnofsky (patients >16 years) or Lansky (patients ≤16 years) score ≤30%
  • Concomitant enrollment in another experimental clinical trial investigating the treatment of refractory BK virus infection.
  • Any medical condition which could compromise participation in the study according to the investigator's assessment
  • Known HIV infection
  • Female patient of childbearing age who is pregnant or breast-feeding or not willing to use an effective method of birth control during study treatment.
  • Known hypersensitivity to iron dextran
  • Patients unwilling or unable to comply with the protocol or unable to give informed consent.
  • Known human anti-mouse antibodies
05

Study design

Phase
Early Phase 1
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
20 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    BK cystitis and/or nephropathy

    All patients with symptoms that are consistent with BK cystitis and/or nephropathy (frequency, dysuria, hematuria, elevated creatinine) will have serum quantitative DNA PCR for BK virus level measured in log copies per mL (results also expressed in copies per milliliter), performed in the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Infectious Disease Diagnostics Laboratory

    Biological: BK-virus specific CTLs

Interventions

  • BiologicalBK-virus specific CTLs

    HLA Matched Related Donors: BK-virus specific CTLs (2.5 x 104 CD3/kg) infused intravenously on day 0 and may be additionally reinfused at a minimum of every two weeks (depending on safety and efficacy) for a maximum of five total infusions (maximum 12.5 x 104 CD3/kg). HLA Mismatched Related Donors: BK-virus specific CTLs (0.5x104 CD3/kg) infused intravenously on day 0 and may additionally be reinfused at a minimum of every two weeks (depending on safety and efficacy) for a maximum of five total infusions (maximum 2.5 x 104 CD3/kg).

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of participants with Grade III-IV acute GVHD

    Number of participants with Grade III-IV acute GVHD as assessed by CTCAE v4.0

    Time frame: Up to 8 weeks after last BK-CTL infusion

  2. Number of patients with undetectable BK viral load

    Number of patients with undetectable BK viral load as measured by qPCR

    Time frame: 12 weeks after first BK-CTL infusion

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States
    • Megan Atkinson · Contact · cttsbmtintake@chop.edu · 215-590-2820
    • Patricia Hankins, BSN, RN, CCRC · Contact · hankinsp@chop.edu · 215-590-5168
    • Caitlin Elgarten, MD, MSCE · Principal investigator
    Recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jun 5, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04293042
Lead sponsor
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Responsible party
Caitlin Elgarten (Attending Physician, Assistant Professor, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) — Principal investigator
First posted
Mar 3, 2020
Start date
Oct 7, 2019
Primary completion
Jan 30, 2028 (estimated)
Completion
Jan 30, 2029 (estimated)
Last update
Jun 5, 2026

Study contacts

Megan Atkinson
Contact
cttsbmtintake@chop.edu
215-590-2820
Patricia Hankins, BSN, RN, CCRC
Contact
hankinsp@chop.edu
215-590-5168
Caitlin Elgarten, MD, MSCE
principal investigator · Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Oversight

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

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