UCMSCs as Front-line Approach of Treatment for Patients With aGVHD

Inclusion criteria

• Patient age 16 and above
• Patient who has undergone an allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) receiving allograft either from HLA-matched related donor (MRD), HLA-matched unrelated donor (MUD), Unrelated Cord Blood (UCB) or Haploidentical donor and developed grade II-IV acute graft versus host disease (acute GVHD) involving the skin, GI tract and/or liver based on 1994 Consensus Conference on Acute GVHD Grading
• Patient and/or parent(s) or legal guardian(s) and assent form signed informed consent. Assent form will be obtained for patients aged less than 18 years. Investigators will obtain the permission of the parents or guardians for the participation of the minor in the research, and to solicit assent from the minor

Exclusion criteria

• Patient who has enrolled in another investigational drug trial or stem cell related trial or has completed the aforesaid within (3) months
• Patient with HIV or syphilis (Patient should be screened for HIV and VDRL up to 6 months prior to study start)
• Patient with Hepatitis B (HBV) or Hepatitis C (HCV). All patients must be screened for HBV and HCV up to 6 months prior to study start using the routine hepatitis virus laboratory. Patients who are positive for HBsAg or HBcAb will be eligible if they are negative for HBV-DNA, these patients should receive prophylactic antiviral therapy. Patients who are positive for anti-HCV antibody will be eligible if they are negative for HCV-RNA
• Patient has creatinine clearance of ≤50mL/min or creatinine is ≥200 µmol/L
• Patient had undergone or on other immune-modulatory treatments such as interferon or Thalidomide over the last 12 months
• Patient with progressive underlying disease or not in complete remission (CR) at the time of transplant
• Any other severe co-morbidities which the doctor deems as a contraindication to cell therapy
• Adults under law protection or without ability to consent
• The patient has previous history or on-going psychiatric illness
• Patient has received an HSCT transplant for a solid tumor disease
• Patient has a known hypersensitivity to dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)
• Patient is a female who is pregnant, lactating, or is planning a pregnancy during study participation, or in the follow-up period