Pediatric GVHD Low Risk Steroid Taper Trial

Completed · Phase 2

Conditions studied: Acute Graft vs Host Disease, Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplantation, Adverse Effects

In brief

The standard treatment for acute graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) is to suppress the activity of the donor immune cells using steroid medications such as prednisone. Although most GVHD, especially in children, responds well to treatment, sometimes (around 1/3 of the time) there is either no response to steroids or the response does not last. In those cases, the GVHD can become dangerous and even life-threatening. Unfortunately, doctors cannot predict who will have a good response to treatment based on symptom severity or initial response to steroids. As a result, nearly all children who develop GVHD are treated with long courses of high dose steroids even though that means many patients receive more treatment than they probably need. Steroid treatment can cause short-term complications like infections, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, muscle weakness, depression, anxiety, and problems sleeping and long-term complications like bone damage, cataracts in the eyes, and decreased growth. The risk of these complications increases with higher doses of steroids and longer treatment. It is important to find ways to decrease the steroid treatment in patients who do not need long courses. The doctors conducting this research have developed a blood test (GVHD biomarkers) that predicts whether a patient will respond well to steroids. The study team found that children who have low GVHD biomarkers at the start of treatment and for the first two weeks of treatment have a very high response rate to steroids. In this study, the study team will monitor GVHD symptoms and biomarkers during treatment and taper steroids quickly in patients who have GVHD that is expected to respond very well to treatment. The study team will assess how many patients respond well to lower steroid dosing and what steroid complications develop. The study team will also use surveys to obtain the patient's own assessment of their quality of life (down to age 5 years).

Key facts

Study ID: NCT05090384
Run by: John Levine
People needed: 50
Starts: 2022-10-20
Expected to finish: 2026-02-25
Last updated by the study team: 2026-06-03

Who can join

Age: any, up to 21. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

Newly diagnosed GVHD that meets criteria for Minnesota standard risk (see section 9.0) except isolated skin rash <25% body surface area without other manifestations.
Ann Arbor 1 GVHD by biomarkers
GVHD not previously treated systemically (topical therapies and non-absorbed steroids are allowed)
Any donor type, HLA-match, conditioning regimen is acceptable
Age 0-21 years at the time of screening
Signed and dated written informed consent obtained from patient or legal representative and assent from pediatric patients capable of providing assent

You may not qualify if…

Patients treated for GVHD with >0.5 mg/kg/day prednisone for any duration or any steroid treatment for GVHD for more than 2 days prior to screening.
Patients receiving corticosteroids >0.1 mg/kg prednisone (or other steroid equivalent) for any indication within 7 days before the onset of acute GVHD except for adrenal insufficiency, premedication for transfusions/IV medications, or intermittent use for symptom control such as nausea/vomiting
Relapsed, progressing, or persistent malignancy or other condition (e.g., known declining donor chimerism) requiring withdrawal of systemic immune suppression or donor leukocyte infusion (DLI)
Patients with uncontrolled infection (i.e., progressive symptoms related to infection despite treatment, persistently positive microbiological cultures despite treatment, viral reactivations unresponsive to treatment, or any other evidence of severe infection)
A clinical presentation resembling de novo chronic GVHD or overlap syndrome developing before or present at the time of enrollment
Patients who are pregnant
Patients requiring mechanical ventilation or cardiac pressor support

Where it is running

Children's Hospital of Los Angeles — Los Angeles, California, United States
Children's National Hospital — Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta — Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Boston Children's Hospital Dana Farber Cancer Institute — Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai — New York, New York, United States
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center — New York, New York, United States
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Vanderbilt University Medical Center — Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine — Houston, Texas, United States
Medical College of Wisconsin / Children's Wisconsin — Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
The Hospital for Sick Children — Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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