Ohio State BMT experts are building on four decades of transplant innovation to save and improve the lives of patients with cancer and other health conditions. In 2024, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) crossed the 40-year mark in performing blood and bone marrow transplants. In the latest Transplant Center-Specific Survival Report published by the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research, the OSUCCC – James ranked among the highest in one-year survival rates of the 172 centers evaluated, and at 250 procedures, reached the top quintile for volume. This report includes first-time allogeneic and autologous bone marrow and blood transplants over the three years, from 2020-2022. “Having a program that has done over 6,500 transplants and has a 40-year history tells you that it’s part of the DNA of the institution,” says Marcos de Lima, MD, director of both the Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy programs at the OSUCCC – James. “We were at a 78% one-year survival rate over the report period. As of today, we are solidly at 80%, and the center closed 2024 with zero non-relapse mortalities at 100 days,” de Lima says. “Comparing this with the mid-1990s, when about 30% of transplant patients didn’t survive the first year due to problems with the transplant itself, tells you how far we have come.” He links rising survival rates primarily with three advancements. One is expanding opportunities to use blood instead of bone marrow to harvest stem cells. A second is the broadening of donor pools, thanks to human leukocyte antigen matching, whereby stem cells from half-matched related donors or even mismatched, unrelated donors can now drive equivalent outcomes to those from fully matched donors. The third is improvements in lowering the toxic side effects of transplant treatments, avoiding or attenuating graft-versus-host disease. Click here to learn more about blood and bone marrow transplants and cell therapy at the OSUCCC – James. Pre-transplant health Another powerful tool for improving odds is patient preparation. Recognizing this, the OSUCCC – James devotes between one-third and one-half of the resources in our multidisciplinary Cancer and Aging Resiliency (CARE) Clinic to patients over 60 who are being considered for an allogeneic transplant. Hematologist Ashley Rosko, MD, directs the program, and thoracic oncologist Carolyn Presley, MD, serves as clinical operations director. Sarah Wall, MD, director of Clinical Operations for the Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy programs, one of the five physicians in this clinic, specializes in how age affects blood cancer diagnoses. “While the stress of transplants once meant they were reserved for the youngest and otherwise healthiest patients, advancements have enabled them to be available to older people and those with more underlying health conditions,” she says. Patients meet with a physician ahead of treatment to talk about the ‘big picture’ goals of care. Their holistic evaluations encompass cognitive and hearing assessments, physical therapy, nutrition, social needs and a medication review to look for polypharmacy and drug interactions. “We built out this model of having a standalone clinic, whereas a lot of other centers have to fold all of this into various appointments,” Dr. Wall says. Easing the burden for patients Dr. Wall says these precautions and other risk-lowering factors employed today offer patients the benefits of a more natural, less disrupted lifestyle in the hospital. “Since patients can feel extremely isolated in the hospital, going through a very intense procedure all alone, our unit is designed to try to keep them active and engaged with the gym, exercise class, café and outdoor patio spaces,” Dr. Wall says. Taking the enhanced patient experience to the next level, the OSUCCC – James plans to offer the procedures on a completely outpatient basis in the near future. Research Fueling the engine for improved outcomes and convenience for the patient, our researchers serve as trial and site principal investigators and high-volume enrollers in scores of trials each year, testing treatments for acute myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic disorders, acute lymphoblastic leukemia and other blood cancers. In a milestone advancement in 2017, we were was among the first hospitals in the United States to offer CAR T-cell therapy (chimeric antigen receptor cells) — the first form of genetically engineered cellular therapy for blood cancer. We were also early to establish a footprint in a large Lymphoma Society trial (Beat AML Master Trial) that enrolls patients over 60 with a new acute myeloid leukemia diagnosis. Under that umbrella lie a multitude of other trials that provide patients personalized treatment options. Sumithira Vasu, MD, hematologist-oncologist and scientific director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, oversees this work within an active portfolio of transplant and cell therapy specific studies. Currently, under Dr. de Lima’s program leadership, the OSUCCC – James is building a cellular therapy research facility in north Columbus to expand on this foundation. We’ll work to develop cellular treatments for blood cancers and solid tumors such melanoma and lung cancer, with the goal of making the facility a nexus for trials on the most innovative treatments. “With more than two decades of experience in developing and conducting studies in stem cell transplantation and cells of the immune system, we can start thinking of therapeutic genetic manipulation to treat several diseases,” he says. “It’s even more exciting that the multidisciplinary nature of this program gives it strong potential to benefit other medical conditions beyond cancer, including infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders.” Click here to learn more about cancer care innovation at The Ohio State University.