Allogeneic Transplantation Using Timed Sequential Busulfan and Fludarabine Conditioning

Phase II Study of Timed Sequential Busulfan in Combination With Fludarabine in Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation

The goal of this clinical research study is to learn if giving busulfan and fludarabine before a stem cell transplant can help control the disease better than the standard method in patients with leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, MDS, or MPD. In this study, 2 doses of busulfan will be given 2 weeks before a stem cell transplant followed by 4 doses of busulfan and fludarabine during the week before the stem cell transplant, rather than the standard method of giving 4 doses of busulfan and fludarabine only during the week before the stem cell transplant.

The safety of this combination therapy will also be studied.

Busulfan is designed to kill cancer cells by binding to DNA (the genetic material of cells), which may cause cancer cells to die. Busulfan is commonly used in stem cell transplants.

Fludarabine is designed to interfere with the DNA of cancer cells, which may cause the cancer cells to die.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Leukemia; Multiple Myeloma; Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Chronic Myeloid Leukemia; Myelodysplastic Syndrome; Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia; Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma; Myeloproliferative Diseases; Hodgkins Lymphoma
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Fludarabine monophosphate; Drug: Busulfan; Procedure: Stem Cell Infusion; Drug: Tacrolimus; Drug: Methotrexate; Drug: G-CSF

Detailed Description

Central Venous Catheter:

If you choose to take part in this study, the chemotherapy, some of the other drugs in this study, and the stem cell transplant will be given by vein through your central venous catheter (CVC). A CVC is a sterile flexible tube and needle that will be placed into a large vein while you are under local anesthesia. Blood samples will also be drawn through your CVC. The CVC will remain in your body during treatment. Your doctor will explain this procedure to you in more detail, and you will be required to sign a separate consent form.

Study Drug Administration and Procedures:

For a stem cell transplant, the days before you receive your stem cells are called minus days. The day you receive the stem cells is called Day 0. The days after you receive the stem cells are called plus days.

You will receive a dose of busulfan by vein over about 3 hours on Day -13 and Day -12. With the Day -13 busulfan infusion, about 11 samples of blood (about 1-2 teaspoons each time) will be drawn for pharmacokinetic (PK) testing at various time points before and after you receive your first dose of busulfan. The study staff will tell you the blood testing schedule. PK testing measures the amount of study drug in the body at different time points. The PK testing will help the doctor decide your dose of busulfan for Days -6 through -3. If needed, PK blood testing may also be done on Day -6 during your dose of Busulfan. You may receive the Day -13 and Day -12 busulfan dose either as an outpatient in the clinic or as an inpatient in the hospital.

A heparin lock line will be placed in your vein to lower the number of needle sticks needed for these draws. If it is not possible for the PK tests to be performed for technical reasons, you will be taken off study and receive the standard fixed dose of busulfan.

On Days -13 and -12, you will receive busulfan by vein over 3 hours.

On Days -11 through -7, you will rest.

On Days -6 through -3, you will receive fludarabine by vein over 1 hour, then busulfan by vein over 3 hours.

On Days -2 and -1, you will rest.

On Day 0, you will receive the stem cell transplant by vein.

After the transplant, you will receive tacrolimus, methotrexate, or other drugs to weaken the immune system in the standard manner to lower the risk of graft-vs-host disease (GVHD), a reaction of the donor's immune cells against the recipient's body.

You will receive tacrolimus by vein as a nonstop infusion until you are able to take it by mouth to help lower the risk of GVHD. You will then take tacrolimus by mouth 2 times a day for about 3 months. After that, your tacrolimus dose may be lowered if you do not have GVHD. Your doctor will discuss this with you. On Days 1, 3, and 6, if your stem cells are from a related or matched unrelated donor, you will receive methotrexate over 30 minutes each day by vein to help lower the risk of GVHD. Participants receiving a matched unrelated donor will also receive methotrexate on Day 11 after the transplant.

You will receive filgrastim as an injection under the skin 1 time a day, starting 1 week after the transplant, until your blood cell levels return to normal. Filgrastim is designed to help with the growth of white blood cells.

Study Testing:

While you are in the hospital, you will be checked for any side effects as part of your standard of care. Blood (about 2 teaspoons) will be drawn every day to check for side effects, for routine tests, to check your blood counts, kidney and liver function, and to check for infections.

As part of standard care, you will remain in the hospital for about 3-4 weeks after the transplant. After you are sent home from the hospital, you must remain in the Houston area to be checked for infections and other transplant side effects until about 3 months after transplant. During this time, you will return to the clinic at least 1 time each week. The following tests and procedures will be performed:

• You will be asked about how you are feeling and about any side effects you may be having.
• Blood (about 2 teaspoons) will be drawn for routine tests.

About 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the transplant:

• You will have a physical exam, including measurement of your vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, and breathing rate).
• You will be asked about how you are feeling and about any side effects you may be having.
• Blood (about 5 teaspoons) will be drawn to see how well the transplant has "taken."
• You will have a bone marrow aspiration to check the status of the disease, if your doctor thinks it is needed. To collect a bone marrow aspiration, an area of the hip or other site is numbed with anesthetic, and a small amount of bone marrow is withdrawn through a large needle.

Length of Study:

You will be taken off study 3 years after the end of treatment. You may be taken off study early if the disease gets worse, if you have any intolerable side effects, of if you are unable to follow study directions.

You should talk to the study doctor if you want to leave the study early. If you are taken off study early, you still may need to return for routine follow-up visits after the transplant, if your transplant doctor decides it is needed.

It may be life-threatening to leave the study after you have begun to receive the study drugs but before you receive the stem cells.

This is an investigational study. Busulfan and fludarabine are both FDA approved and commercially available. The investigational part of this study is the addition of 2 more doses of busulfan.

Up to 200 patients will take part in this study. All will be enrolled at MD Anderson.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 201
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
      • University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 5 years to 75 years (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients with high-risk hematologic malignancies with anticipated poor prognosis with non transplant therapy, including those in remission or with induction failure and after treated or untreated relapse. Diagnoses to be included a) Acute myeloid leukemia; b) Acute lymphocytic leukemia; c) Chronic myeloid leukemia; d) Chronic lymphocytic leukemia; e) Myelodysplastic syndrome; f) Myeloproliferative syndromes; g) Non-Hodgkins lymphoma; h) Hodgkins Lymphoma; i) Multiple myeloma.
2. Patients must have a histocompatible stem cell donor. An HLA-identical related donor or a 8/8 matched unrelated donor.
3. Age 5 to 75 years old.
4. Performance score of >/= 70 by Karnofsky/Lansky or PS 0 to 1 (ECOG </=1).
5. Left ventricular ejection fraction at least 40%.
6. Adequate pulmonary function with FEV1, FVC and DLCO >/=50% of expected corrected for hemoglobin and/or volume. Children unable to perform pulmonary function tests (e.g., less than 7 years old) pulse oximetry of >/= 92% on room air
7. Creatinine clearance (calculated creatinine clearance is permitted) should be >40 ml/min.
8. Bilirubin </= 2 x the upper limit of normal (except Gilbert's Syndrome). SGPT (ALT) < 200.
9. Negative Beta HCG test in a woman with child bearing potential, defined as not post-menopausal for 12 months or no previous surgical sterilization. Women of child bearing potential must be willing to use an effective contraceptive measure while on study.
10. Patient or patient's legal representative, parent(s) or guardian able to sign informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. HIV seropositivity.
2. Uncontrolled infections.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Fludarabine + Busulfan; Fludarabine administered by vein at dose of 40 mg/m2 in 100 ml of normal saline (NS) on Days -6 through -3. First two doses of Busulfan, 80 mg/m2 administered as an outpatient or as an inpatient to facilitate for this pharmacokinetically directed therapy. Busulfan is administered at the dose calculated to achieve a total (including first two doses delivered on day -13 and -12) systemic exposure of 20,000 ± 12% µMol-min based on the pharmacokinetic studies.

Drug: Fludarabine monophosphate; 40 mg/m2 by vein on Days -6 through -3.; Other Names: Fludara; Fludarabine Phosphate; Drug: Busulfan; First two doses of Busulfan, 80 mg/m2 administered as an outpatient or as an inpatient to facilitate for this pharmacokinetically directed therapy. Busulfan is administered at the dose calculated to achieve a total (including first two doses delivered on day -13 and -12) systemic exposure of 20,000 ± 12% µMol-min based on the pharmacokinetic studies.; Other Names: Busulfex; Myleran; Procedure: Stem Cell Infusion; Fresh or cryopreserved bone marrow or peripheral blood progenitor cells infused on Day 0.; Drug: Tacrolimus; Starting dose of 0.015 mg/kg (ideal body weight) as 24 hour continuous infusion daily adjusted to achieve therapeutic level of 5-15 ng/ml. Tacrolimus changed to oral dosing when tolerated and can be tapered off after day +90 if no graft versus host disease (GVHD) present.; Other Names: Prograf; Drug: Methotrexate; 5 mg/m2 by vein on Days 1, 3, 6 and 11 post transplant.; Drug: G-CSF; 5 mcg/kg/day subcutaneously beginning on Day +7, and continuing until absolute neutrophil count (ANC) is > 500 * 10/L for 3 consecutive days.; Other Names: Filgrastim; Neupogen

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Non-Relapse Mortality Rate (NRM)	Number of participants expired within the first 100 days after transplant not due to relapsed disease.	100 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Overall Survival	Number of participants that are disease free and alive one year post transplant.	Up to 1 year post-transplant
Overall Survival	Number of participants that were diseased free and alive 3 years post-transplant.	Up to 3 years post-transplant

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Uday Popat, MD, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Popat UR, Mehta RS, Bassett R, Chen J, Valdez BC, Kawedia J, Ahmed S, Alousi AM, Anderlini P, Al-Atrash G, Bashir Q, Ciurea SO, Hosing CM, Im JS, Jones R, Kebriaei P, Khouri I, Marin D, Nieto Y, Olson A, Oran B, Parmar S, Rezvani K, Qazilbash MH, Shah N, Srour SA, Shpall EJ, Champlin RE, Andersson BS. Fludarabine with a higher versus lower dose of myeloablative timed-sequential busulfan in older patients and patients with comorbidities: an open-label, non-stratified, randomised phase 2 trial. Lancet Haematol. 2018 Nov;5(11):e532-e542. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3026(18)30156-X.

Helpful Links

• MD Anderson Cancer Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 11, 2012
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 11, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): August 11, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 4, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 5, 2012
• First Posted (Estimated): April 6, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 29, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 27, 2023
• Last Verified: June 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Multiple myeloma; Methotrexate; Tacrolimus; Leukemia; Prograf; MDS; Filgrastim; Myelodysplastic syndrome; Acute myeloid leukemia; Stem cell transplant; Acute lymphocytic leukemia; Chronic lymphocytic leukemia; Fludarabine phosphate; Fludara; Allogeneic Transplantation; Busulfan; Busulfex; G-CSF; Chronic myeloid leukemia; Neupogen; Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma; Myleran; Myeloproliferative Diseases; Hodgkins lymphoma; Fludarabine monophosphate
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Cardiovascular Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Immune System Diseases; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Neoplasms; Lymphoproliferative Disorders; Lymphatic Diseases; Immunoproliferative Disorders; Disease Attributes; Bone Marrow Diseases; Hematologic Diseases; Hemorrhagic Disorders; Hemostatic Disorders; Paraproteinemias; Blood Protein Disorders; Neoplasms, Plasma Cell; Precancerous Conditions; Leukemia, B-Cell; Chronic Disease; Lymphoma; Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Multiple Myeloma; Leukemia; Leukemia, Myeloid; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; Hodgkin Disease; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin; Preleukemia; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma; Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell; Leukemia, Lymphoid; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive; Myeloproliferative Disorders; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors; Enzyme Inhibitors; Antirheumatic Agents; Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; Antimetabolites; Antineoplastic Agents; Immunosuppressive Agents; Immunologic Factors; Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating; Alkylating Agents; Myeloablative Agonists; Dermatologic Agents; Reproductive Control Agents; Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal; Abortifacient Agents; Folic Acid Antagonists; Calcineurin Inhibitors; Fludarabine; Fludarabine phosphate; Methotrexate; Tacrolimus; Busulfan
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2011-0958; NCI-2012-00573 (Registry Identifier: NCI CTRP)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: Yes
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No