Physicians with University of Minnesota Health Cancer Care are known for their innovative and groundbreaking care for patients with blood cancers. Many treatments that are now available to patients around the world were pioneered at our NCI-designated research center: Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota.
We have been a world leader in treating hematologic malignancies with blood and marrow transplant (BMT) since 1968, when the world’s first successful BMT was completed here. Since then, our physicians have performed roughly 6,000 transplants for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and other blood cancers.
We continue to perform leading-edge research, including the use of cellular therapy to motivate the body’s own “natural killer” cells to destroy cancer cells, and the use of radio-immunotherapy to treat leukemia and lymphoma. In this type of therapy, the patient is given an antibody drug to specifically target the cancer cells. The drug has a radioactive particle attached to it that helps kill the targeted cells.
Recently, our team, in partnership with researchers at Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, has had success with an early‑stage clinical trial for patients with lymphoma and leukemia. This promising new immunotoxin therapy, using the diphtheria bacteria, targets cancer cells while limiting exposure to surrounding healthy cells.
This continued research, conducted in collaboration with scientists at the Masonic Cancer Center, benefits patients who have failed standard therapies.
