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Beginning with the first association between NYCC and Yale School of Medicine in 1990, a
fount of information has poured forth to contribute to improvements in the investigation
and clinical treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system. The first association was
a project that involved the investigation of the use of extra-corporeal photochemistry
(ECP), known as photopheresis, developed in the early 1980’s,
by Dr. Richard L.
Edelson, now Professor and Chairman of Dermatology at Yale and
Past Director, Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center. The study was titled, Photopheresis for the Therapy of Progressive Systemic Scleroderma: A disease affecting the
Cardiovascular System. Impressive statistical evidence, gathered in that study, justified
further clinical trials.
A second project involved the use of photopheresis to control the rejection of
transplanted hearts. This study was so successful that it led to photopheresis being
utilized in more than 150 cardiac treatment centers around the world where heart
transplants are performed. A paper published in 1998 in The New England Journal of
Medicine described how this new treatment protocol is more effective than conventional
immunosuppression in preventing episodes of cardiac rejection. More importantly, further
coronary artery disease in these transplanted hearts is markedly reduced.
A third project was a retrospective statistical study of sixty patients who had been
treated with photopheresis for the treatment of cutaneous t-cell lymphoma, a common type
of lymphoma. These patients, ranging in age from 55 to 80 were statistically compared to a
group of patients who had not been treated with photopheresis. Evidence of disease
including angina and myocardial infarction was looked for in these patients. Although
statistics suggested that one in eight of these persons would have been expected to show
evidence of cardiovascular disease, there were no such incidents present in the
photopheresis treated group.
Through the year 2010, Photopheresis
remains the leading immunotherapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA). Over 1.5 million patients worldwide have been
treated with this therapy.
The current association between Yale School of Medicine and NYCC,
following the original work with photopheresis, is the study
of
- Transimmunization: insights
into the immune system. Monocytes in peripheral blood are activated by the forces
encountered during ECP to differentiate into dendritic cells. Dendritic
cells, in addition to possessing the ability to provoke immune
responses, may allow for their control. It is conceivable that at some
point, these cells may provide a means to create vaccines to treat
certain types of cancer.
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To learn more about NYCC projects call us at (201) 569-8180, fax us at (201)
568-5571
or write to us at: 82 North Summit Street, Tenafly, NJ 07670.
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