As part of Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, the BMT Program researchers and scientists participate in several clinical trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). These clinical trials are designed to improve outcomes in patients with blood cancers.
The OSUCCC – James BMT physicians are full-time faculty members at Ohio State’s College of Medicine, and each physician has significant sub-specialty experience in individual malignancies such as lymphoma, multiple myeloma and leukemia. They not only provide world-class treatment for treat at all stages of disease, but they are also extremely vested in enhancing outcomes among those with poor-risk leukemia treated in first remission.
The world-recognized experts conduct innovative, groundbreaking research that leads to vastly improved clinical care. For example, they developed and demonstrated the effectiveness of a radiation-free preparative regimen for blood and marrow transplantation that is used around the world to treat diseases such as chronic myelogenous leukemia.
In addition to the many research projects at the OSUCCC – James, the BMT Program research team extends beyond the lab to promote collaboration and cooperation across a network of institutions. Their ongoing affiliations with such organizations as the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology and the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) enable these internationally recognized specialists to join forces with other clinicians and scientists across the country — all to discover, validate and share critical findings that lead directly to improved treatment and prevention strategies for patients diagnosed with blood cancers and diseases. Through these affiliations, the BMT Program research scientists continually share their expertise and extensive experience with others on a worldwide stage as national principal investigators and protocol team members on several novel clinical trials.
The power of this multidisciplinary, multi-institutional collaboration is unlimited. For example, researchers at the OSUCCC – James and elsewhere showed how using a reduced-intensity conditioning regimen to prepare older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) for blood and marrow transplants resulted in higher rates of disease-free survival relative to the more standard treatments usually given to these patients. Typically, the prognosis for older patients with AML is poor. But for older AML patients who received a reduced-intensity regimen prior to their transplant, the disease-free survival rate reached 39 percent.
Clinical Trials
The OSUCCC – James has hundreds of open clinical trials at any given time, with some of the world’s latest discoveries available to clinical trial patients in Columbus, Ohio. In fact, patients have access to more cancer clinical trials here than at nearly any other hospital in the region, and they also have access to some of the most advanced, targeted treatments and drugs available.
One of many exciting research studies at the OSUCCC – James offers new hope for patients who receive bone marrow transplants. By expanding their understanding of Graft vs. Host Disease (GvHD), OSUCCC – James researchers are working toward improved treatment protocols for the transplant complication.
What their research has uncovered is an unregulated enzyme both in leukemias and lymphomas — two conditions for which patients receive bone marrow transplants — and there is emerging research that shows that this enzyme was unregulated in T-cells. The OSUCCC – James research experts seized this opportunity to determine if they could inhibit the activity of this enzyme — a strategy that could effectively eliminate the cancer cells and prevent GvHD at the same time.
Current clinical trials include:
The OSUCCC – James is one of only a handful U.S. cancer centers funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to conduct phase I and phase II clinical trials on novel anticancer drugs and clinical trials for new blood and marrow transplant methods. These trials go only to centers that demonstrate an exemplary capacity for research and clinical care, the expertise to deliver the latest in treatments and the infrastructure to interpret and track treatment results.
Additionally, the OSUCCC – James is a member of the NCI-sponsored Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB).
Clinical Research Awards and Successes
- Creating alternative therapies for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). New research at the OSUCCC – James is looking at which therapies improve chances for remission in AML patients who have normal-looking chromosomes.
- Earning a $9.8 million, five-year Program Project Grant (PPG) from the NCI. In this study, OSUCCC – James scientists will study how retroviruses can transform lymphocytes (white blood cells found in leukemia patients) and cause blood cell growth that may lead to AML.
- Discovering not only a new gene that suppresses tumors but also a unique chemical signature that might play a part in developing leukemia — findings that open opportunity for future study.