Testing new tactics against autoimmune disease
Richard Nash, immunotherapy researcher and oncologist
As a hard-working member of the immune system, a T-cell is an efficient killer, attacking anything it perceives as an intruder, whether it's a virus-infected cell, a cancer cell or a bacterium.
But sometimes, a T-cell attacks a friend-and it goes on attacking, unchecked, destroying healthy tissue and creating serious autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and lupus. Why the immune system goes so very wrong has puzzled researchers for decades. As many as 80 autoimmune diseases have been identified, and some of them are capable of causing serious complications, even death.
One example is systemic sclerosis, also known as scleroderma, a disease without effective treatment.
"It's one of the most frustrating diseases to treat. There's high mortality and no therapies, and it can hit you in so many ways," Richard Nash said.
By training, Nash is an oncologist, a researcher in leukemia and other blood cancers. But thanks to a unique and unexpected insight, he's now applying his knowledge in new ways. Along with colleagues, he is taking the Hutchinson Center's pioneering leukemia research and applying it to other diseases, such as systemic sclerosis and MS.
The standard treatment for leukemia and other blood cancers is chemotherapy, radiation and transplantation of bone marrow or blood stem cells. Nash is optimistic the same approach may now help patients with autoimmune diseases.
It has taken some very unlucky patients-a rare few who had both leukemia and systemic sclerosis-to uncover a potential new use for transplantation.
With systemic sclerosis, a patient's skin becomes very hard, severely limiting movement. When one of these patients received a stem cell transplant for cancer, "we saw evidence of skin improvement. The treatment suggested that the fibrosis of the skin was a reversible condition," Nash said. "And it appeared to stabilize the organs."
With transplantation, it may be possible to remove the reactive cells that are triggering the immune system to attack the body. Nash's lab is conducting clinical trials to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of high-dose chemotherapy and stem-cell transplantation for systemic sclerosis and MS.
"For me, that's part of the excitement of being in this field … we're doing something different and helping people, and learning about potential new therapies," he said. "To be successful in any project, collaboration and teamwork are very important."
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