Transplant and Cellular Therapy: Breaking New Ground in East Tennessee and Beyond
It’s been three years since Kelly G. McCaul, MD, Director of the Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program, and Renju V. Raj, MD, Assistant Professor with the Division of Hematology and Oncology, began building the Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program (TCT) at the medical center. They began by building a specially designed inpatient unit, an outpatient collection suite, clinic space and a cellular processing lab. They also assembled a team of nurses, lab technologists, pharmacists, social workers and other professionals to deliver high-level care for the complex and vulnerable transplant patient population. The first transplant took place in 2021. By the end of 2023, the program had performed 48 autologous transplants and 16 allogeneic transplants. In addition, the team performed the first chimeric antigen T-cell (CAR-T) and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) therapies in East Tennessee during 2023. CAR-T is a therapy in which T-cells (a type of immune-system cell) are removed from a patient. The T-cells are changed in the laboratory and infused back into the patient to identify and destroy certain cancer cells. TILs is an experimental therapy for solid tumors that involves removing immune T-cells from a piece of a patient’s tumor, expanding and sometimes enhancing the cells outside the body and then reinfusing them to eliminate cancer cells.
Kelly G. McCaul, MD Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Director, Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program
Renju V. Raj, MD Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology
There are currently six FDA-approved CAR-T therapies, while many others are being studied in clinical trials. In 2023, the medical center program treated seven patients with CAR-T therapy with one of the three therapies currently being offered. These include:
• Tisagenlecleucel also known as tisa-cel (Kymriah) • Axicabtagene ciloleucel also known as axi-cel (Yescarta) • Brexucabtagene autoleucel also known as brexu-cel (Tecartus)
| Cancer Institute Annual Report 26
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