AsianScientist (Nov. 18, 2014) – Clinical trials led by QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) are set to change international practice for the treatment of leukemia patients undergoing bone marrow transplants. This research has been published in The Lancet Oncology.
QIMR Berghofer Senior Scientist, Professor Geoff Hill, said the Phase I/II trials resulted in a significant drop in cases of acute graft versus host disease (GVHD), a potentially fatal complication from stem cell transplants.
“The incidence of acute GVHD was reduced from the usual 50 percent, to 12 percent of transplant patients in the trial,” Prof. Hill said.
“Severe cases—which often result in death—were reduced from 21 percent to 4 percent.”
Professor Hill said irradiation followed by bone marrow transplant was now the standard treatment for blood cancers such as leukemia and was generally successful.
“The treatment does result in a ramped up response in the patient’s immune system and unfortunately in acute GVHD this is directed towards normal tissues in the skin, gut and liver,” Prof. Hill said. “To try to prevent this from happening, we administered the drug Tocilizumab (TCZ) to inhibit the immune system’s production of the protein IL-6, which stimulates the body’s response to trauma.”
“We found the addition of TCZ to the usual regime of post-transplant medication resulted in a large drop in the incidence of acute GVHD for those participating in the study.”
RBWH Bone Marrow Transplant Unit Acting Director, Associate Professor Glen Kennedy, said the results of the Phase I/II trial represented a significant advance in bone marrow transplant treatments.
“The new therapy has the potential to make transplant safer and applicable to a larger group of patients.”
TCZ is currently approved for use treating rheumatoid arthritis. A Phase III study now underway at RBWH will be the final test before the addition of TCZ to the GVHD prevention regime is registered and adopted in clinical practice.
The article can be found at: Kennedy et al. (2014) Addition of Interleukin-6 Inhibition with Tocilizumab to Standard Graft-Versus-Host Disease Prophylaxis After Allogeneic Stem-cell Transplantation: a Phase 1/2 trial.
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Source: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute; Photo: Ed Uthman/Flickr/CC.
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