Paul J. Galardy, M.D.

The purpose of this study is to establish a bank of tissue, stool, and blood from pediatric participants newly diagnosed with a malignancy for future studies.

The purpose of this study is to assess how well rituximab and latent membrane protein (LMP)-specific T-cells work in treating pediatric solid organ recipients with Epstein-Barr virus-positive, cluster of differentiation (CD)20-positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder. Monoclonal antibodies, such as rituximab may block tumor growth in different ways by targeting certain cells. LMP-specific T-cells are special immune system cells trained to recognize proteins found on post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder tumor cells if they are infected with Epstein-Barr virus. Giving rituximab and LMP-specific T-cells may be better in treating pediatric organ recipients with post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder than rituximab alone.

This randomized phase II/III trial studies how well combination chemotherapy with or without rituximab works in treating younger patients with stage III-IV non-Hodgkin lymphoma or B-cell acute leukemia. Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Monoclonal antibody, such as rituximab, may block cancer growth in different ways by targeting certain cells. It is not yet known whether combination chemotherapy together with rituximab is more effective in treating patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma or B-cell acute leukemia.