LOS ANGELES, May 15, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Former bone marrow transplant patients - ranging from toddlers to young adults - gathered with their families, physicians and nurses (May 15) yesterday in Griffith Park to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. The Bone Marrow Transplant Program is part of the Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases (CCCBD), the largest and most comprehensive pediatric hematology/oncology program in the nation.
The first bone marrow transplant at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles was performed on Dec. 12, 1983, by the program's founder, Robertson Parkman, M.D. Since then, 842 bone marrow transplants have been performed at the hospital. Today, the program is responsible for almost half of the pediatric bone marrow transplants performed in Los Angeles County.
"Since the program's inception, we have been at the forefront of research and development for transplant immunology and gene therapy," explains Donald B. Kohn, M.D., head of the Division of Research Immunology/Bone Marrow Transplantation, director of the Gene, Immune and Stem Cell Therapy Program and co-director of the Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases. "We are using this approach to explore treatment of many life-threatening diseases." Dr. Kohn, who is professor of pediatrics and microbiology and immunology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, is the president of the American Society of Gene Therapy.
The Bone Marrow Transplant Program at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles performs transplants for a broad spectrum of diseases, including cancers such as leukemia, neuroblastoma, and brain tumors; blood diseases like sickle cell anemia and thalassemia; metabolic diseases like adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD); and immune-deficiency disorders including an otherwise-fatal illness called severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), known as "bubble baby" disease. Childrens Hospital is one of the primary referral centers for children with this congenital disorder, in which the body is unable to produce sufficient "T" and "B" cells to resist infection.
Complementing the bone marrow transplant program at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is the stem cell research team, led by Gay Crooks, M.B., B.S., who is an associate professor of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine.
"The stem cell research team helps doctors and scientists understand how blood is made at the cellular and molecular levels and develop new ways to treat diseases of the blood," explains Dr. Crooks.
Innovative treatments pioneered or refined by physicians at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles have saved the lives of youngsters at other hospitals and health care facilities throughout the world. One such technique is the haploidentical transplant, in which children receive a transplant of bone marrow harvested from one of their parents. Developed as an option for children who did not have identical donor matches, the first haploidentical transplant was performed by Neena Kapoor, M.D., at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Kapoor is now clinical director of Research, Immunology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, medical director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program at the CCCBD, and professor of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine.
Throughout the years, team members not only have continued to develop new treatments but also devise new methods to make treatments safer. Kenneth Weinberg, M.D., a physician/scientist at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and SCID specialist, has developed an innovative new clinical approach for treating children at the hospital who have SCID. The protocol, which began in use in January 2003, appears to be achieving its goal of restoring all aspects of protective immunity to patients, while limiting the side effects often found in standard transplant approaches.
"Being involved with the treatment of very young children, it is of utmost importance to learn the potential long-term impacts of such medical intervention on the quality of these children's lives," says Dr. Kapoor. "Toward this end, we are making a concerted effort to evaluate and intervene to improve the life-long effects on patients, by undertaking a long-term, follow-up study," she says. It will be directed by Ami Shah, M.D., clinical director of Outpatient Services, Bone Marrow Transplantation Program at Childrens Hospital.
Founded in 1901, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has been treating the most seriously ill and injured children in Los Angeles for more than a century, and it is acknowledged throughout the United States and around the world for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. Childrens Hospital is one of America's premier teaching hospitals, training more young pediatricians than any other health care facility in California through its association with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California since 1932. It is a national leader in pediatric research.
Since 1990, U.S. News & World Report and its panel of board-certified pediatricians have named Childrens Hospital Los Angeles one of the top pediatric facilities of the nation.
Visit our website: www.ChildrensHospitalLA.org