Collection of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) From Healthy People for the Expansion of T Cells for Adoptive Cell Therapy

Overview

Title: Collection of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) from Healthy People for the Expansion of T Cells for Adoptive Cell Therapy Background: New therapies are being developed that use a person s own immune system to fight tumors. Some of the tumors being studied include cancers caused by viruses. Researchers want to use the healthy cells of volunteers to perform research studies. To do this, they are collecting lymphocytes through leukapheresis. Objectives: To collect healthy cells from volunteers for research studies for new cancer therapies. Eligibility: Healthy people ages 18 and older Design: Participants will be screened with a standard donor questionnaire. It asks about their health and past medical problems. It also asks about risky behaviors that could increase their exposure to viruses or bacteria that could be transmitted through a transfusion. Participants will give a blood sample to make sure they are able to donate. They will have a physical exam. A finger stick test will check their hemoglobin, or red blood cell, level. They might give a urine sample. Participants will undergo apheresis. For this, a needle is placed in a vein in each of their arms. Their blood is taken from one arm. A machine separates the white cells from the red cells and plasma by a spinning process. The white cells are removed and directed into a plastic bag. The red cells and plasma are returned through the needle in the other arm. The entire procedure takes 4 6 hours. Participants may donate every 21 days in this protocol if they choose to.

Background: * Adoptive T cell therapies are being used to treat patients with cancer and hematological malignancies. Some of these therapies require that the patients T cells be expanded over 100-fold. * This cell expansion can be accomplished by culturing autologous T cells with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) collected from healthy subjects. This process is known as the Rapid Expansion Protocol (REP) and makes use of pooled irradiated PBMCs from healthy subjects. Objectives: * To provide a mechanism for the collection of PBMCs from healthy subjects to use for the expansion of autologous T cells from patients with cancer. * To improve and develop new methods to isolate PBMCs and to expand T cells for adoptive cellular therapy. Eligibility: * Subjects must be greater than or equal to 18 years old and able to provide informed consent * Subjects must have adequate clinical parameters (all of the following): * Afebrile (temperature less than or equal to 37.5 degree C) * Systolic blood pressure less than or equal to 180 mmHg * Diastolic blood pressure less than or equal to 100 mmHg * Weight greater than or equal to 110 lbs * Heart rate between 50-100 beats/minute * Adequate bilateral antecubital venous access for a 2 arm apheresis procedure * Females of child-bearing potential should not be pregnant Design: * This protocol will provide a mechanism for banking frozen PBMCs that can be used for the expansion of clinical T cell therapies and for developing new expansion procedures. * The PBMCs will be collected in the Dowling Apheresis Clinic and processed in the Cell Processing Section (CPS) Laboratory both of which are located in the Department of Transfusion Medicine (DTM), Clinical Center following their established procedures. * After the PBMCs are collected and processed, they will be cryopreserved. When needed, they will be thawed in the Cell Processing Laboratory, irradiated, pooled and used for the expansion of patient T cells over 2 to 3 weeks. * Up to 500 subjects for PBMC collection will be enrolled in this study.