Engineered immune cells take aim at blood cancers

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

INCLUSION CRITERIA: Patients must meet the following eligibility criteria to be included: 1. Recurrent B cell lymphoma or leukemia (ALL or CLL), or newly diagnosed patients unable to receive or complete standard therapy OR diagnosis of intermediate B cell lymphoma with a treatment plan that will include high dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation. If a patient is less than 18, the lymphoma/leukemia is highly aggressive (i.e. lymphoblastic, Burkitt, ALL). 2. Life expectancy of at least 12 weeks 3. Recovered from the toxic effects of all prior chemotherapy before entering this study 4. ANC greater than 500, HgB greater than 8.0 5. Bilirubin less than 3 times the upper limit of normal 6. AST less than 5 times the upper limit of normal 7. Serum creatinine less than 3 times upper limit of normal 8. Pulse oximetry of greater than 90% on room air 9. Karnofsky/Lansky score of greater than 60% 10. Available autologous transduced peripheral blood T-cells with greater than/=15% expression of CD19CAR determined by flow-cytometry 11. Patients or legal guardians must sign an informed consent indicating that they are aware this is a research study and have been told of its possible benefits and toxic side effects. Patients or their guardians will be given a copy of the consent form 12. Sexually active patients must be willing to utilize one of the more effective birth control methods during the study and for 3 months after the study is concluded. The male partner should use a condom EXCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. History of hypersensitivity reactions to murine protein-containing products 2. Pregnant or lactating 3. Tumor in a location where enlargement could cause airway obstruction 4. Currently receiving any investigational agents or have not received any tumor vaccines within the previous six weeks