Pediatric Immunotherapy Conditions & Treatments

The pediatric cancer experts at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s are utilizing immunotherapy techniques to treat some of the most common pediatric cancers, including:

• Acute lymphocytic leukemia
• Acute myeloid leukemia
• Hodgkin lymphoma
• Neuroblastoma (Brain cancer)
• Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
• Osteosarcoma
• Rhabdomyosarcoma
• Thyroid carcinoma
• Testicular germ cell tumors

Types of Immunotherapy

There are several types of immunotherapies. Two are showing the most promise for pediatric cancers and blood disorders:

• Cell-based therapies: A patient’s own cells are removed from the body and ’engineered’ to recognize their cancer and given back to the patient. CAR T-cell is a type of cell-based therapy.
• Novel immune modulation therapy: These are special medications designed to manipulate immune cell response in the fight against cancer.
  • Checkpoint inhibitors, which disrupt signals that allow cancer cells to hide from an immune defense, for example.
  • Cytokines and immune modulators: Protein molecules that help regulate and direct the immune system.
  • Cancer vaccines: Both to treat and to prevent cancer by stimulating and strengthening the natural abilities of immune cells already in the body.

An overview of CAR T-Cell therapy

CAR T-Cell Immunotherapy

In its arsenal to address childhood cancers, UH Rainbow offers CAR T-Cell therapy, an FDA-approved immunotherapy that uses the body’s own T-cells, a type of white blood cell, to fight cancer and life-threatening infections. This therapy shows promise in treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that have relapsed or have been resistant to other types of cancer treatment. UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital CAR T-cell laboratory at Angie’s Institute is one of less than a dozen labs that are able to manufacture CAR T-cells for human treatment onsite – offering this important therapy quickly and tailor-made to the patient.