Cellular Therapy Program

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.

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.