Leading-Edge CAR T-Cell Immunotherapy for Children and Adults with Cancer

Understanding Immunotherapy in Cancer Treatment

Immunotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer.

Generating Cellular Therapies On-site at UH Seidman Cancer Center

Immunotherapy is the next frontier in cancer therapy. It uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. At University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, we are able to generate cellular therapies onsite, allowing us to get these cancer treatments to patients more quickly.

What Is CAR T-Cell Therapy?

CAR T-cell therapy takes white blood cells, called T-cells, from a patient’s blood and modifies them in a lab so that they recognize and kill cancer cells. The modified T-cells are injected into the patient’s body to attach to and destroy cancer cells.

CAR T-cell therapy offers new treatment options to patients with relapsed or resistant acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), chronic lymphocytic leukemia, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma and multiple myeloma. CAR T-cell therapy may be used to treat other blood cancers through clinical trials.

CAR T-cell therapy is also FDA-approved for use in children and young adults (age 25 and under) who have relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Why Choose UH Seidman Cancer Center?

• The Wesley Center for Immunotherapy at UH Seidman Cancer Center is one of a select few facilities in the U.S. that develop CAR T-cell and other cellular-based therapies on-site. Treatment can begin in eight days compared to 12 to 30 days commercially. In some cases, we can produce CAR T-cells within 24 hours and infuse them back into the patient about a week later.
• We were one of the first cancer centers to use CAR T-cells to treat mantel cell lymphoma.
• UH Seidman Cancer Center was the first hospital in Ohio to provide a patient with ABECMA^® (idecabtagene vicleucel), the first FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapy.
• UH Seidman Cancer Center is at the forefront of research to test and develop cellular immunotherapies. Clinical trials have shown higher rates of cancer remission and survival, giving patients options when other therapies aren’t effective.
• UH Seidman Cancer Center is an NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of 57 such cancer centers nationally. We’re rated “Exceptional,” a rating only seven NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers hold.
• UH Seidman Cancer Center has been rated one of the best cancer hospitals in the country for more than 20 years by U.S. News & World Report.
• UH Seidman Cancer Center is accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). We’re also a core member the Bone & Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN).
• We work closely with University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, a leading pediatric hospital, and have a specialized adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer program.
• UH Seidman Cancer Center has a 30-bed inpatient unit specializing in the treatment of hematologic malignancies.
• UH Seidman Cancer Center is involved in pioneering outpatient administration of cell-based immunotherapy and stem cell transplant. When it is an option, outpatient treatment offers many advantages for patients.

Wesley Center for Immunotherapy at UH Seidman Cancer Center

The Wesley Center for Immunotherapy at UH Seidman Cancer Center is named in honor of Kimberly and Joseph Wesley. The Wesley family donated $10 million to support groundbreaking research that brings new, life-extending immunotherapies to patients.

The center, which generates CAR T-cell, NK cell and other cell-based therapies on-site, gives patients access to the latest therapies more quickly. Many patients start treatment in eight days, compared to a national average of 12 to 30 days. This allows UH Seidman Cancer Center physicians to deliver therapy in a timely manner to more patients than would otherwise be possible.

University Hospitals is one of less than a dozen academic medical centers to develop CAR T-cells for human use and is the nation’s only National Center for Regenerative Medicine.

Clinical Trials for CAR T-Cell Therapy

The cancer team at UH Seidman Cancer Center leads research to improve and expand the uses of CAR T-Cell therapy to fight cancer. We’re one of the first cancer centers in the country to offer a clinical trial for anti-CD19 CAR T-cells in non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients.

In mid-2024, we began a Phase 1 clinical trial for a new B-cell activating factor (BAFF) CAR T-cell therapy. It was developed by UH Seidman Cancer Center and a Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine scientist to treat patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.