Over the last 15 years, the BMT CTN has effectively addressed key issues in HCT, including donor selection, choice of preparative regimens, prevention of post-transplant infection, prevention and treatment of graft- versus-host disease and the indications for HCT in the treatment of specific diseases, through the conduct of 37 clinical trials. The Fred Hutch Transplant Program has played an important role in the success of the BMT CTN since its inception, serving as one of its Core Clinical Centers. There are a number of features of the Fred Hutch Transplant Program that enhances its value as a Core Clinical Center. (1) The volume of clinical activity at the Hutch allows us to successfully recruit and enroll patients on BMT CTN clinical trials, including patients with rare diseases. The Hutch?s performance in reaching its BMT CTN accrual targets over the last four year has been rated by the BMT CTN as ?outstanding.? (2) Our long and deep experience with HCT provides outstanding clinical outcomes. For the past 3 years running, we have exceeded the 95% confidence limits for survival as calculated by the center-specific outcomes measures of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR). (3) The faculty of the Fred Hutch Transplant Program includes a large number of investigators, all focused on various aspects of HCT. The breadth and depth of this group whose NIH funding includes 6 Program Projects, 26 RO1s, and numerous other awards, helps insure that we will continue to provide important scientific contributions to the network. Each year for the last 4 years, our group has been rated as ?outstanding? by the BMT CTN for our scientific and administrative efforts. (4) The Fred Hutch has extensive experience with novel cell therapies including stem cell expansion, genetic engineering of T cells, and correction of inborn errors, which are areas of specific interest noted by the NHLBI and the NCI. (5) The faculty of the Fred Hutch have enthusiastically collaborated with other members of the BMT CTN to help achieve the networks research goals over the past funding periods and is committed to continuing to do so.
The goals of the BMT CTN are to improve hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) outcomes, evaluate promising novel cell therapies, and rapidly disseminate study results to improve the scientific basis for the treatment of patients in need of HCT therapy. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center will continue to work with the BMT CTN to achieve its goals by providing scientific leadership, contribute to the development of clinical trials, enroll patients, and disseminate results to the scientific community and patients.
