Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells as First-line Treatment for Patients With Acute Graft Versus Host Disease

Summary

Allogenic haemopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is the effective treatment for many hematologic malignancies and some non-malignant diseases. In recent years, with the rapid improvement of economy and medical level, the number of cases of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) develops rapidly in China. In 2019, 12,323 cases of HSCT were completed in China, with allo-HSCT accounting for 9600 cases of which.

However, Graft versus host disease (GVHD) is one of the most common and serious complications after Allo-HSCT. The incidence of acute GVHD (aGVHD) is as high as 40%-60% in HLA-matched sibling transplantation, and the incidence is even higher in haplo-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation(haplo-HSCT) and unrelated donor transplantation. By Glucksberg grading standard, the 5-year survival rates of grade III and IV aGVHD are 25% and 5% respectively, indicating severe GVHD directly affects the survival of Allo-HSCT patients.

The first-line treatment for aGVHD is still glucocorticoid, while the effective rate is only 30%-50%. Moreover, due to immunosuppression and increasing risk of infection, the efficacy of second-line treatments including polyclonal antibodies, monoclonal antibodies, immunosuppressants, immunotoxins, chemotherapy drugs, and light therapy for steroid resistant aGVHD is also poor, with the overall survival rate of 5%-30%.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent cells, which can promote engraftment and hematopoietic reconstruction by secreting a variety of hematopoietic promoting factors, expressing adhesion molecules supporting hematopoietic stem cells, guiding homing of hematopoietic stem cells and providing hematopoietic microenvironment. At the same time, MSCs can modulate immune responses by affecting the proliferation of T cells and the migration of T cells and DC, inducing the expansion of Treg cells, inhibiting the secretion of antibodies by B lymphocytes, and regulating the secretion of soluble factors such as NO and IDO. As a result of these characteristics and the poor immunogenicity, MSCs are a promising alternative treatment for GVHD.

Currently, UK and EU guidelines has recommended MSC as a third-line treatment for grade 2-4 acute GVHD, and the safety and efficacy of umbilical cord derived MSCs in the prevention and treatment of GVHD has also been reported by several transplantation centers in China.However, MSCs have not been used for first-line treatment of aGVHD. Therefore, the investigators designed this study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of UC-derived MSCs as the first line treatment in patients with aGVHD.

Conditions

• aGVHD

Interventions

OTHER

hUC-MSCs

Participants will be treated with hUC-MSCs at a dose of 1×10\^6 /kilogram (kg) actual body weight at Screening for twice per week in 1-2 weeks and once a week in 3-4 weeks after being rolled into this study. At the same time, patients will be treated with glucocorticoids according to patients' condition.

OTHER

glucocorticoids

Participants were treated with glucocorticoids only.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Institute of Hematology & Blood Diseases Hospital, China

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Erlie Jiang · Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-09-01

Primary Completion

2024-03-01

Completion

2025-03-01

Countries

• China

Study Locations