KANSAS CITY, Kan., Feb. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- As a mother of
three, a blood cancer diagnosis four years ago for 36-year-old
Emily Dumler was devastating news.
Diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Dumler wound up undergoing
six rounds of outpatient chemotherapy. And while doctors thought
the cancer was gone, it returned a year later.
After a stem cell transplant didn't work -- leaving her
seemingly out of treatment options and with a prognosis of only six
months left to live -- her doctor, Dr. Joseph McGuirk, director of blood cancers and
stem cell transplants at The University of
Kansas Cancer Center, refused to give up and identified an
innovative solution for Dumler. He located a clinical trial at
another hospital in Houston and
encouraged her to apply. Dumler was accepted and became only the
third person in the world to undergo this revolutionary treatment,
called CAR-T.
Her story was featured on NBC's TODAY Show as Dumler, her
husband and Dr. McGuirk recounted the journey (see the video
here).
The therapy involves removing a patient's T cells -- a type of
white blood cell -- and genetically engineering them to recognize
and attack the patient's tumors. The T cells are then put back into
the patient's body.
"A revolution in cancer medicine is ongoing right now," says
McGuirk, who previously oversaw a CAR-T clinical trial at The
University of Kansas Cancer Center that
showed promising results. "When patients develop cancer, the
T-cells have failed to do their job, because part of their job is
surveillance for misbehaving cells or abnormally shaped cells –
recognize that and attack and destroy them."
Unlike traditional intensive chemotherapies or radiation, CAR-T
"re-arms" patients' immune systems, allowing them to do the
work.
The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the gene
therapy, named Yescarta, to treat adults with large B-cell
lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, who have failed to
respond to other treatments. The University of
Kansas Cancer Center is one of the few facilities to offer
this CAR-T therapy.
A full video of Emily's story and the treatment is available
here.
The University of Kansas
Health System is the region's premier academic medical center,
providing a full range of care. The hospital is affiliated with the
University of Kansas Schools of
Medicine, Nursing and Health Professions, and their various
leading-edge research projects. The constantly growing facility
contains 768 staffed beds (plus 24 bassinets) and serves more than
37,500 inpatients annually. Eight of its medical and surgical
specialty areas are ranked nationally by the U.S. News &
World Report "Best Hospital" lists, including Cancer (#25),
Cardiology & Heart Surgery (#36), Gastroenterology and GI
Surgery (#34), Geriatrics (#18), Nephrology (kidney) (#46),
Neurology & Neurosurgery (#46), Pulmonology (#32) and Urology
(#17). The cancer program is part of The University of Kansas Cancer Center, one of 69
National Cancer Institute-designated programs in the U.S. The
hospital has received Magnet nursing designation three times in a
row, reflecting the quality of care throughout the hospital, an
honor awarded three consecutive times to only 3.7 percent of the
hospitals nationwide. The hospital also houses the region's
only accredited burn center, the area's only nationally accredited
Level I Trauma Center and a leading quality transplant program in
liver, pancreas, kidney, heart and bone marrow. For more
information, visit KansasHealthSystem.com. The University of Kansas Hospital receives no
state appropriations and is financed through operating revenue,
bonding authority and philanthropy.
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SOURCE The University of Kansas
Cancer Center