A faculty member in the Division of Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care views 2018 as the year when the UW Carbone Cancer Center and other UW Health groups will begin treating patients with new advanced cell technologies available for the first time in the US.

An article by UW Health focused on the progress of the Program for Advanced Cell Therapy (PACT) led by Jacques Galipeau, MD (pictured above and at upper right), Marilyn and Don Anderson Professor of Cancer Research and assistant dean for therapeutics discovery and development. 

"There’s a large and vibrant cell therapy community here, driving discovery. The field is ready for the next step: first-in-human clinical trials," said Dr. Galipeau.

He described how PACT is focusing on developing and deploying concepts in cell technology at UW-Madison, identifying and leveraging international best practices in this arena, and striking collaborations with industry partners. 

A second story by the UW School of Medicine and Public Health (published in the same week as the UW Health article) described research published by the PACT team that described two new methods to test the health and potency of cells grown in a lab for use in some stem-cell treatments. 

The work, which was published in the journal Cell Reports, describes methods for the use of mesenchymal stromal cells for treatment of inflammatory diseases such as Crohn’s disease and graft vs. host disease. The work was spurred by the team's desire to understand why past clinical trials on the use of stem-cell treatments for inflammatory conditions failed. 

Raghavan Chinnadurai, PhD (pictured at lower right), assistant scientist, Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care, was lead author of the research publication.

Dr. Chinnadurai explained how past stem-cell clinical trials had been stalled because modified cells were incapable of treating patients when they arrived at their final destination. “In one case, they would extract the cells, alter them to fight the condition, grow more, freeze them and then ship them across the country,” he said. “When the cells arrived, they were not as healthy as when they were grown, and the trial failed because of it." 

There was no way to test how strong the cells were, until now, Dr. Chinnadurai said.

The potency assays that the research team developed are designed to help monitor the health and effectiveness of modified mesenchymal stromal cells.

Scientists hope this will lead to more effective prediction of cell potency for clinical trials. 

Resources:

• "Forming a PACT to Treat Cancer Patients with Cutting-Edge Cell Therapies," UW Health, March 5, 2018
• "Researchers develop ways to identify potency of certain stem cell treatments," UW School of Medicine and Public Health, March 20, 2018
• Chinnadurai R, Rajan D, Qayed M, Arafat D, Garcia M, Liu Y, Kugathasan S, Anderson LJ, Gibson G, Galipeau J. 2018. Potency Analysis of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Using a Combinatorial Assay Matrix Approach. Cell Rep. 22(9):2504-2517.