How Treatment Works Here
The safest, most effective and most widely accepted therapies for cancer become the “standard of care.” For many patients, these are the foundation of treatment. At Fred Hutch, we provide all standard therapies for all types of cancer.
Our physicians and researchers are always asking how we can make blood and marrow transplant better. Reduce side effects further. And tell each patient, “Good news. No signs of disease.” This is why we conduct clinical trials. Through BMT studies — which we pioneered nearly a half-century ago — we’re able to offer you therapies that are not available everywhere. A therapy that is now in trials may become the new standard tomorrow.
The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Blood and Marrow Transplant Program had its beginnings in the 1970s, when Nobel Prize-winner E. Donnall Thomas, MD, and his team at Fred Hutch first developed clinical use of transplants.
Today, the internationally renowned physicians and scientists at Fred Hutch and UW Medicine join together and continue to lead with new discoveries related to blood and marrow transplant (BMT) — which ultimately creates more treatment options for patients like you.
When your care team designs your treatment plan, they will look for any clinical trials that might match your situation. If so, your care team will talk with you about whether you might want to join a particular study and why. This can help you make the decision that’s best for you. If you join a clinical trial, you will see the same physicians and nurses as you would for standard therapy.
“Important new developments are showing the way to a further improvement in results so that many more patients with otherwise incurable diseases will have a reasonable chance of long survival and cure.”
— E. Donnall Thomas, MD, 1990 Nobel Laureate
History of BMTs
1957: First Allogeneic Transplant
Dr. E. Donnall Thomas pioneers the first allogeneic — using cells from a donor — blood and marrow transplant.
1970s: Transplantation Becomes Widely Available
Clinical blood and marrow transplantation comes into wide use during this decade. Because of the toxicity of chemotherapy or radiation, which is required to prepare patients for transplant, BMT is only available to healthy people in their 30s or younger.
1975: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Opens
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where Dr. Thomas and his team continue to refine their work on blood and marrow transplantation, opens its doors.
1979: First Non-Blood Related Allogeneic Transplant
First transplant involving a donor who was not blood-related to the patient.
1981: First “MisMatched” Transplant
The first “mismatched” BMT is performed on Dr. Jerry Liebermann. It’s referred to as mismatched because Dr. Libbermann and his donor did not share the same HLA markers — proteins on cells that the body uses to determine which cells belong and which cells do not.
1986: National Marrow Donor Program® Established
The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) receives federal funding to start matching donors with patients.
1987: NMDP Facilitates Its First Transplant
The NMDP facilitates its first transplant by finding a matched unrelated donor.
Late 1980s: Autologous Blood and Marrow Transplants Surpass Allogeneic Transplants
Autologous blood and marrow transplants (using a patient’s own cells) surpass allogeneic transplants (using donor cells) as the most common type. This remains the case to this day.
1990s: Using umbilical cord blood for allogeneic transplants starts. This opens up transplant as an option for those who do not have a matched related or matched unrelated donor.
1990: Dr. E. Donnall Thomas Wins Nobel Prize
Dr. E. Donnall Thomas wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering work on blood and marrow transplantation.
Late 1990s: Non-Myeloablative Transplant Is Developed
Dr. Rainer Storb develops the non-myeloablative transplant, sometimes called a "mini-transplant.” The procedure involves minimal pre-transplant radiation and extends the lifesaving benefits of blood and marrow transplantation to older or more-infirm patients who are not eligible for a traditional transplant.