While stem cell transplants have become a crucial tool in fighting blood cancers, some patients can still face serious complications. Dr. Hongtao Liu is focused on combating these barriers.
Liu, medical director of the Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy program at UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center, treats patients with leukemias, a category of blood cancer. He is also active in clinical research, exploring new agents to treat leukemias as well as how to optimize the effectiveness of stem cell transplants.
Stem cell transplantation, also called bone marrow transplantation, involves an infusion of healthy blood-forming stem cells after the patient has been treated to kill cancerous blood cells. The stem cells are used to restore the patient’s ability to create new, healthy blood cells. There are two types of stem cell transplants: autologous, where the transplant stem cells come from the patient, and allogeneic, when donor stem cells are used.
Even when stem cell transplants are successful, patients are still at risk for relapse of their cancer. To prevent this, patients are given a donor lymphocyte infusion, a type of treatment where donor immune cells known as T-cells are used to reprogram the patient’s immune system and fight the new cancer growth.
“We want to use the donor’s T-cells and immune system against leukemia in order to control the disease,” Liu said.
However, patients who receive a donor stem cell transplant or donor lymphocyte infusion can become at risk for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), which occurs when donor immune cells attack the patient’s healthy cells as well.
Liu is collaborating with Dr. Jacques Galipeau, director of the Program for Advanced Cell Therapy, to understand which cells contribute to GVHD, why it occurs and how to combat the risk. They are exploring new ways to give donors cells that are more selective to mitigate side effects.
“Instead of giving patients the regular donor lymphocyte infusion, we remove certain subsets of the T-cells and most of the B-cells (another type of immune cell that creates antibodies) using a selection device,” Liu said. “We keep other cells to prevent disease relapse and infection, while avoiding causing severe GVHD from which the patients could die.”
Liu hopes this work will improve treatment response and mitigate harmful side effects for patients.
“I am really focused on the prevention of disease relapse after stem cell transplant,” Liu said. “I just want the best for my patients.”
