D epartment
of
M edicine
Con ne c ti ng T e c h n o lo g y , Ed uca t i o n a n d D i s cove ry w ith H um anis m in Me dicine
Vol. 10 Issue 4 Oct. 2021
Bone Marrow Transplantation at UTMCK An exciting addition to the medical center is the Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program! While new hematology/oncology faculty, Drs. Kelly McCaul and Renju Raj, are building the program, the hospital is busy putting the finishing touches on the new transplant and cellular therapy unit which will be located on the 5th floor of the heart hospital, with plans to open the program in the next several weeks. There will be two arms of the program to offer a wide range of innovative therapies to our patients: the transplant side and the cellular therapy side. The transplant branch of the program will feature both autologous and allogeneic transplantation. The allogeneic program will provide a wide variety of resources to our patients, allowing sibling, matched and mismatched allogeneic, and haploidentical donors to patients who may otherwise have no other available stem cells. Autologous transplantation can even be used to treat some solid tumors, such as germ cell tumors and Ewings sarcoma. There are plans to expand the transplant program further into the unrelated donor realm after the official introduction of the program, including cord blood transplantation. The cellular therapy segment of the program will include therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor cells (CAR-T) therapy. The program is developing relationships with all commercial CAR-T companies to allow patients access to all available FDA-approved CAR-T products. These products include treatments for aggressive lymphomas, multiple myeloma, and acute lymphocytic leukemia. “In addition, we are trying to approach this with somewhat of a modular approach,” says Dr. McCaul, “whereby we will be able to ‘plug in’ any other cell therapy product that comes active in the future with FDA approval.” The Cellular Therapy space will also feature research into the latest technologies and developments in cellular therapies, starting with Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) in a research collaboration with Iovance Biotherapeutics. This new technology will expand cellular therapy treatments beyond hematologic malignancy into the solid tumor
realm, such as non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma, cervical, and squamous cell cancer of both the head and neck as well as the lung. The UT Medical Center Transplant and Cellular Therapy program will bring a much-needed resource to our local and regional communities, as currently there is no transplant program within a 100-mile radius of our institution. Through this program, our patients will have the opportunity for the best clinical outcomes available to them without the additional stress required for travel and lodging. Finally, we would like to offer Dr. McCaul and Dr. Raj the warmest welcome and our heartfelt support in their leadership of this program.
Points of View
The threat that these viruses would lead to a prolonged pandemic was not given serious consideration. The advent of the pandemic was swift. Gone were the conferences, parties, and dining at restaurants. Travel came to a standstill. Most people were working from home and children had to rely on computers for their education. There was a stillness that created a void in people’s social lives. It was like the end of the show after the audience had departed. What had been a hectic and busy place, full of laughter and good cheer, was replaced by a feeling of emptiness and loneliness! There was no escape from the onslaught of this deadly virus. The aging and vulnerable population were most affected by this “lockdown”. They were deprived of interaction with their family and friends for extended periods. The social isolation took an enormous emotional toll, with increased feelings of uncertainty, anxiety and depression. Suicide rates, alcoholism and continued on page 2
Social Isolation …
Like many killers, this one came in stealthily and picked off its victims at random. It did not, however, come without forewarning. Scientific experts had long predicted that a pandemic was overdue. Most were worried about another flu variant, and laboratories across the globe were monitoring for Rajiv Dhand, MD, Chair new strains of the influenza virus. Coronavirus was low on the radar of most public health agencies as the cause for a global pandemic. Previous exposures to coronaviruses causing serious respiratory illnesses were for a brief duration and seemed to subside for no conceivable reason. 1