Improving Safety and Efficacy of HSCT

Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) – replacing a patient's immune system using bone marrow, peripheral blood stem cells or cord blood – is curative for many patients with leukemia and lymphoma, but leaves the patient vulnerable to serious infections for many months after the transplant. If any T cells are included in the transplant, or delivered after the transplant in a separate donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI), the patient may be better able to fight infection and eliminate any remaining tumor cells (GvT effect), but these same T cells can attack the patient's normal healthy tissue, causing Graft vs Host Disease (GvHD).

CaspaCIDe™ DLI is a donor lymphocyte infusion in which the donor T cells contain the CaspaCIDe™ safety switch, which is delivered to the T cells using a retrovirus. Importantly, the retroviral LTR promoter differentially drives increased expression of the CaspaCIDe™ protein in activated T cells, which are more likely to be those responsible for GvHD, ensuring their preferential, selective elimination upon exposure to AP1903.