Hutch Researcher Receives $12.9M for Immune Studies

Millions of people suffer from allergies nationwide, (up to 30% of Americans, according to the Center for Disease Control), but for most, a healthy immune system and a course of antihistamines is all that is needed for a little relief.

For others, however, diseases that complicate and degrade the immune system make every microbe and bacteria a potentially fatal nightmare. In recent years, people suffering from immune deficiencies have found some home in stem-cell transplants and other therapies, but their hope is tempered by inherent toxicities and associated side effects.

As part of an effort to improve immune system treatments using stem cells, Dr. Rainer Storb, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has received a significant amount of new research funding.

The $12.9 million grant was given by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and will fund a five-year program to research blood stem-cell treatments for immune deficiencies, such as “bubble-boy disease” and sickle-cell anemia.

“Current approaches at cell and gene therapy for lethal noncancerous diseases of the blood and immune systems have inherent toxicities that may affect patients for the rest of their lives,” said Storb, a founding scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and head of the Transplantation Biology Program. “The targeted therapies proposed under this grant aim to eliminate these toxicities.”

In collaboration with fellow Fred Hutch researchers Drs. Ann Woolfrey and Lauri Burroughs, Dr. Storb will test less-toxic to blood stem-cell transplants and several other cutting-edge methods, including the use of targeted immune system molecules and a genetic “safety switch”.

According to Fred Hutch, this program builds on almost 35 years of large-scale research funding from NHLBI that Storb received to develop and improve transplantation of blood stem cells for noncancerous blood diseases.

As one of the leading medical research facilities in the world, Fred Hutch is home to hundreds of scientists who are extremely busy conducting federally funded life science research projects.

For example:

• 2014 NIH Funding: $227,003,145
• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) employs three Nobel Prize winners, is responsible for groundbreaking discoveries in cancer research, and has an annual research budget close to $400 million.
• The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Seattle Children's Research Institute have formed a new biotech company called Juno Therapeutics and is being launched with $120 million.

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