Stanford Cutaneous Lymphoma Research

Stanford Cutaneous Lymphoma Research Breakthroughs

• Novel in situ vaccination strategy combining intratumoral CpG, a powerful immune-stimulatory agent, and local radiation, to circumvent the need to produce labor-intensive and time-consuming ex vivo vaccine product. This in situ strategy effectively provided tumor antigens from dying tumor cells (induced by local RT) to antigen presenting cells (APCs) and activated these APC to present their engulfed antigens to T-cells.
• Demonstration of how traditional therapies are used more effectively with improved clinical benefit to the patient with dramatic efficacy while lessening side effects. This has been exemplified by the modification of our total skin electron beam therapy (TSEBT), known as the "Stanford TSEBT technique," by reducing the total dose by two-thirds and combining with a potential radiation-enhancing systemic agent, such as a histone deacetylase inhibitor. This novel low-dose total skin electron beam therapy results in dramatic clearing of disease with significantly less toxicity.
• Establishment of collaborative network with leading genomics groups at Stanford to decipher the molecular mechanism of cutaneous lymphoma and discover new molecular targets for development of newer therapies. Our initial investigation of whole transcriptome sequencing using RNA-Seq in Sezary syndrome has already identified novel Sezary cell-associated transcripts.
• Curative or long-term clinical benefit is demonstrated with novel allogeneic HSCT regimen utilizing preparatory regimen of TSEBT, total lymphoid irradiation (TLI) and anthymocyte (ATG). Stanford investigators have shown that TLI/ATG conditioning results in effective graft versus lymphoma effect with reduced complication of graft versus host disease. The TSEBT contributes towards more effective elimination of tumor cells in the skin, a site where complete response has been difficult to attain with systemic therapies.