Using High-Med and High-Tech in the fight against leukemia
When the Carreras Leukemia Center at Universitätsklinikum Marburg is inaugurated on 25 September 2009 with star tenor José Carreras, a long-cherished dream will come true for Prof. Andreas Neubauer. “Now we can really provide our patients with optimum care after bone marrow transplants. With our new premises we have the technical equipment to care for patients in a virtually germ-free atmosphere during the critical post-operation phase”, explains the Director of the Clinic for Haematology, Oncology, Immunology at the Marburg Lahnberge location.Of the more than 3.7 million euros invested in the specialised ward, the José Carreras Leukemia Foundation and RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG each contributed 1.67 million euros and the Faculty of Medicine of Philipps Universität Marburg 0.4 million euros. These funds were used to purchase laboratory equipment and a 16-bed ward with high-tech infrastructure. It will have a capacity of around 100 bone marrow transplants per year – with currently 70 to 85 transplants, the Marburg Clinic is situated in the mid-range in Germany.
That said, Prof. Neubauer is looking beyond this to the bigger picture: “The Carreras Leukemia Center is also an important part of the overall structure of tumour research and treatment in Marburg. A centre for immuno- and tumour biology has already been approved as well – with the backing of the German Research Foundation from the funds dedicated to collaborative research. And here we enjoy a good tradition of co-operation between all oncological areas.”
Visitors to Neubauer’s new ward have to don a face mask and a protective gown. The rooms are equipped with double doors and hermetically sealed off from the outside world, for example using windows with special sealing systems. Fresh air is supplied through the high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. The rooms are permanently under slight hyperbaric pressure to prevent inflow of air through the doors. And the water taps are equipped with legionella filters to block access to bacteria as well.
“Thanks to this equipment, our prospects of success are greatly improved: after a bone marrow transplant the patient’s immune system is virtually deactivated – he is completely exposed to attacks from viruses, bacteria and fungi”, explains Prof. Neubauer with reference to the high cost. New drugs for such infections and new hospital technology have helped improve the prognosis of all leukemia patients on average by 30 per cent over the past 20 years.
The special thing about the Leukemia Center in Marburg compared with other centres funded by the José Carreras Leukemia Foundation: it takes a translational approach, i.e. does not pursue either just pure research or the aim of improving care, but instead directly implements (translates) the results of research into patient care at the same location. For this purpose, two of the ward’s patient rooms with two beds each are declared as a clinical trial unit, as a research centre in which new drugs can be tested in clinical trials of phase I (side effects) and phase II (efficacy). The trial subjects are leukemia patients for whom all other therapies have failed and who have explicitly volunteered for these clinical trials and protocols.
“It is perfectly possible that we will find substances in the laboratory that we can then test in the trial unit”, says Prof. Neubauer, describing a researcher’s dream. That said, they do not necessarily always have to be completely new active substances. For example, the Marburg leukemia team discovered that a traditional epilepsy drug (valproic acid) counteracts acute myeloid leukemia (AML), one of the most common tumour diseases of the bone marrow.
The Spanish tenor José Carreras founded the German José Carreras Leukemia Foundation in 1995 out of gratitude for being cured of leukemia and to help other leukemia patients. So far the Foundation has made it possible to realise over 700 projects aimed at doing research into cures, promoting treatment facilities such as transplant units, day clinics and rehabilitation centres, as well as supporting self-help groups and parents’ initiatives. Further information and insight into the projects can be found under http://www.carreras-stiftung.de.
The José Carreras Benefit Gala for the José Carreras Leukemia Foundation will be held this year on 17 December in Leipzig, and will be broadcast live by ARD television. Once again, the event will be attended by numerous stars to help people with leukemia.
More information is available under:
http://www.ccc-marburg.de/
http://www.med.uni-marburg.de/
http://www.uniklinikum-giessen.de/start/
Contact for queries:
Dr. med. Dr. oec. Doris Benz
Universitätsklinikum Gießen und Marburg GmbH
Standort Gießen
Rudolf-Buchheim-Straße 8
D-35392 Gießen
Telefon: +49 641 99-40013
Email: doris.benz@uk-gm.de
Website: http://www.uniklinikum-giessen.de/
