TMLI and Alemtuzumab for Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease

This phase I trial tests the safety and effectiveness of total marrow and lymphoid irradiation (TMLI) and alemtuzumab as a conditioning regimen in patients with sickle cell disease. Conditioning regimens are treatments used to prepare a patient for stem cell transplantation. A stem cell transplant is a procedure in which a person receives blood stem cells, which make any type of blood cell. A conditioning regimen may include chemotherapy, monoclonal antibody therapy, and radiation to the entire body. It helps make room in the patient's bone marrow for new blood stem cells to grow, and helps prevent the patient's body from rejecting the transplanted cells. Alemtuzumab is a monoclonal antibody that may interfere with the ability of cancer cells to grow and spread. Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a complication that may occur after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in which donated cells view the recipient's cells as foreign and attack them. Giving TMLI and alemtuzumab may help reduce organ damage that can be caused by radiation and decrease the risk of GVHD.