6 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
Oral Melatonin is a commercially available product available alone and as a constituent in a number of supplements. Previous research suggests that short-term supplementation with oral melatonin may amplify the recovery response to damaging resistance exercise via modulation of subsequent immune and inflammatory responses. However the effects of oral melatonin on neutrophil and monocyte invasion/migration, a critical step in the resolution of skeletal muscle tissue homeostasis, has not been examined. An oral melatonin supplement (5mg) will be provided three times daily beginning 24-hours before and ending 48-hours after an acute bout of damaging resistance exercise (total 15mg/day for 3 days). Goals: 1. To investigate the effect of melatonin on systemic and cellular responses following an acute bout of damaging resistance exercise. 2. To investigate the effect of melatonin on measures of functional performance before and during recovery from an acute bout of damaging resistance exercise.
Since the last submission, the investigator have further characterized the potential of IL--11 to induce encephalitogenic CD4+IL--17A+, IL--21+ and GM--CSF+ cells, which upon passive transfer induced severe RREAE with IL--17A+CCR6+ CD4+ cell, neutrophil, CD8+ and B--cell accumulation within the CNS (manuscript submitted for publication). These findings confirmed our hypothesis and further characterization of the IL--11--induced encephalitogenic CD4+ cells will be performed as planned in the grant proposal
Patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma will be consented following tumor resection then undergo leukapheresis for harvest of peripheral blood leukocytes for generation of dendritic cells. Subjects will then receive standard of care (planned 6 weeks) radiation therapy (RT) and concurrent temozolomide (TMZ) at a standard targeted dose of 75 mg/m2/day. The study cycle of TMZ comprises a targeted dose of 150-200mg/m2/day for 5 days every 4 (+2) weeks for up to 12 cycles (patients with unmethylated MGMT gene promoter will receive only cycle 1). All patients will receive up to a total of 10 DC vaccines called pp65 CMV dendritic cells (DC). Dendritic Cell (DC) vaccines #1-3 will be given every two weeks, thus delaying the initiation of TMZ cycle 2 for patients receiving TMZ. All remaining TMZ/vaccine cycles will be 4 (+2) weeks in length. After the first 3 DC vaccines given during Cycle 1 of TMZ, the remaining DC vaccine injections are given on Day 21 (+/- 2 days) of each TMZ cycle. Subjects with unmethylated MGMT will only receive one cycle of adjuvant TMZ; however, their vaccine schedule will follow the same 4 (+ 2) week TMZ cycle schedule. Following RT, patients will be randomized into 1 of 3 groups. Groups 1 and 2 will be blinded. The groups differ in the type of pre-conditioning received prior to DC vaccine #4; additionally, Group 3 will be receiving infusions of varlilumab 7 days prior to and with vaccine #1 and 7 days prior to vaccine #3+. The pre-conditioning for each group is as follows: Group 1: Unpulsed DC pre-conditioning prior to DC vaccine #4; Group 2: Tetanus-diphtheria (Td) pre-conditioning prior to DC vaccine #4; Group 3: Td pre-conditioning prior to DC vaccine #4 and varlilumab infusion at 7 days prior to each DC vaccine (except DC vaccine #2) with Td pre-conditioning prior to vaccine #4.
This randomized phase II study will assess the impact of pre-conditioning on migration and survival among newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM) patients who have undergone definitive resection and completed standard temozolomide (TMZ) and radiation treatment, as well as the impact of tetanus pre-conditioning and basiliximab together on survival. After completing standard of care radiotherapy with concurrent TMZ, patients will be randomized to 1 of 3 treatment arms: 1). receive cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific dendritic cell (DC) vaccines with unpulsed (not loaded) DC pre-conditioning prior to the 4th vaccine; 2). receive CMV-specific DC vaccines with Tetanus-Diphtheria Toxoid (Td) pre-conditioning prior to the 4th vaccine; 3). receive basiliximab infusions prior to the 1st and 2nd DC vaccines along with Td pre-conditioning prior to the 4th vaccine. A permuted block randomization algorithm using a 1:1:1 allocation ratio will be used to assign patients to a treatment arm. Randomization will be stratified by CMV status (positive, negative), with the assignment to arms I and II being double-blinded. Effective March 2017, randomization to Group III has been terminated.
Patients undergoing immunotherapy for advanced cancer under IRB-approved protocols, who are to receive immune cells in adoptive transfer, will have less than or equal to 50% of those cells labeled with In-111-oxine and administered along with the remainder of their unlabeled cells. They will then undergo gamma-camera imaging over the next 0-7 days and blood samples and tumor sites which are accessible with minimal surgery (low-risk biopsy) may be sampled in some patients for enumeration of radiolabeled cells. End-points will be tumor and normal organ imaging and the amount of In-111 per gram of tissue in biopsies or per ml. of blood.
This study will examine the production of proteins called chemokines in inflammatory skin reactions. It is thought that chemokines attract or recruit white blood cells from the blood stream into the skin when there is a skin injury or infection, causing inflammation. This study will examine chemokine production in induced inflammatory reactions to try to gain a better understanding of how white blood cells are attracted to inflamed areas of the body. Healthy normal volunteers between 33 and 60 years old may be eligible for this study if they 1) have no history of chronic skin disease; 2) are not allergic to eggs; and 3) do not tend to form large irregular scars after trauma to the skin from, for example, cuts, scratches and surgical incisions. Candidates will be asked a short series of questions and have a limited skin examination. Participants will have 10 ml (2 tablespoons) of blood drawn from an arm vein at the start and end of the 5-day study and undergo the following procedures: 1. Day 1 - Participants receive an injection in the right upper arm of mumps antigen (a protein commonly used to tests for immunization against mumps) and an injection of "vehicle" (saline plus the preservatives thimerosal, glycine and formaldehyde) in the left upper arm. 2. Day 3 - Participants who develop a swelling from the mumps antigen larger than 5 mm wide will receive another injection of antigen in the right arm and another injection of vehicle in the left arm. Those whose swelling is not greater than 5 mm will be excluded from the study at this point. 3. Day 5 - All four injection sites, plus another site on the left upper arm will be biopsied. For this procedure the five injection areas are numbed with a local anesthetic. A punch biopsy instrument that resembles a small cookie cutter (about one-third the diameter of a dime) is inserted about one-fifth of an inch deep into the skin and the tissue is removed. Two stitches are used to close the wound. Antibiotic and bandages are applied for 5 days. Nine days after the biopsy the participant returns to NIH for removal of the stitches. New molecular biology techniques will be used to measure changes in chemokine production in the biopsied tissue.