The Use of Etanercept (Enbrel®) in the Treatment of Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Exclusion Criteria

• •Pregnancy or nursing mother
• •Intolerance or allergic reaction to etanercept
• •Previous use of steroids for treatment of acute GVHD
• •Active infection, chronic or localized, not responding to antibiotics, with continued signs of infection (patients with a positive C. Difficile test will not be excluded from the study)
• •Condition that might predispose to developing serious infections (i.e. active and uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, sickle cell anemia)
• •Other investigational agents for the treatment or prophylaxis of graft-vs-host disease within the past 2 weeks
• •Serum creatinine \> 2.0mg/dl
• •Patients being treated for acute pulmonary dysfunction (IPS) study using etanercept
• •Patients with hypotension believed to be secondary to sepsis syndrome or heart failure requiring \> 1 inotropic agent, or dopamine \>5mcg/kg/minute for blood pressure support
• •Evidence of congestive heart failure on clinical exam
• •Evidence of hepatic dysfunction with an ALT or AST \> 2.5 x ULN, not due to GVHD