Cellular Therapy Program

To be considered for a stem cell transplant or CAR T-cell therapy at KHSC, you must be referred by your hematologist. Once you are referred to the program, you will be booked for an appointment with the stem cell transplant team. The purpose of this first meeting is to decide if a stem cell transplant or CAR T-cell therapy will be an appropriate and safe treatment option for you.

Your doctor and nurse will explain why you are being recommended for cellular therapy. They will also tell you about the possible benefits and risks.

The cellular therapy unit is located on Kidd 9 in KGH.

You will also receive care in other hospital areas during your treatment.

Stem cell therapy

An autologous stem cell transplant involves removing some of the patient’s blood stem cells, getting a high dose of chemotherapy, and then re-infusing the patient’s stem cells back to you. This treatment is performed by KHSC’s malignant hematology unit, and it allows patients to be treated with much higher doses of chemotherapy. Stem cell therapy is used to treat cancers that may be more aggressive or harder to treat with other forms of systemic treatment.
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CAR T-cell therapy

CAR T-Cell therapy stands for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. This treatment is a type of “living drug” cancer therapy that uses a patient's own immune system to fight cancer. CAR T-cell therapy involves removing some of a patient’s blood with the goal of collecting T-cells (a type of white blood cell). The collected cells are genetically modified in a specialized laboratory and then sent back to KHSC where they are re-infused to the patient. The new T-cells use a patient’s own immune system to target and attack cancer specific cells.
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