Summer Greetings 2023
Dear CICT Collaborators!
We send you summery greetings and hope that this finds you enjoying the slower pace and relaxed days of the season!
We are delighted to share with you our updates and coming plans. Over the last few months, we have launched the Bioregistry, published papers, received new funding, and cared for a growing number of Cancer & Organ Transplant Clinic (COTC) patients.
Bioregistry Active!
We launched the Bioregistry in March and are rapidly enrolling University of Washington and COTC patients, starting first with pre-and post-transplant kidney patients, with and without cancer. Soon we will invite collaborators from other institutions to contribute data and are looking forward to further expanding the utility of the bioregistry. This potent resource is truly a first of its kind—it stores and shares patient-level data to enable multidimensional research around the country!
CICT Research
We remain focused on high impact research, reflected in study design, data analysis, manuscript writing, and participant enrollment in our on-going studies.
Role of C3 in Renal Cell Carcinoma
Working with collaborator Dr. Ram Akilesh (UW) we have enrolled 14 participants in our Role of C3 in Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) study thus far, and are actively recruiting patients with the help of our UW urology colleagues. We seek answers to the significance of C3 in RCC.
We are excited to continue this research with the support a 2-year $381,803 Breakthrough Seed Fund grant from the state of Washington through the Cancer Research Endowment (Andy Hill CARE Fund) with matching funds provided by the UW Departments of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology, Urology, and Drs. Mehrotra, de Boer and Blosser for this study for total funding of $763,606! In addition, we are re-applying for a large Department of Defense grant in September to advance this research. We will keep you posted on the status of this application. This news is truly gratifying to us, and we hope you find it equally compelling.
Social Determinants of Health and Healthcare Equity
Our steadfast commitment to equitable access to healthcare and research is demonstrated in the recently initiated Social Determinants of Health Survey. We ask subjects to reflect on their experiences with racism in healthcare, as well as other determinants of health such as social support, housing, education, and income. We will then analyze their medical outcomes including access and outcomes before and after kidney transplant, with the goal of improving policy and practice to minimize discrimination and racism in healthcare. This study is led by Drs. Bessie Young and Yue-Harn Ng (UW), experts in the field of health care access and health equity.
Projects with our interns
The work with our interns continues to be meaningful, and we will be submitting manuscripts for publication soon from our studies on 1) Kidney Cancer Screening practices (Alyssa Ong) and 2) transplant referral patterns for patients with Plasma Cell Dyscrasia (Regina Tsay).
Regina is working with us, Dr. Sarah Lee (Fred Hutch), and recently graduated transplant nephrology fellow Danyi Zheng (UW) on the plasma cell dyscrasia (PCD) project, and we are excited to report that Regina has submitted an abstract to present at the upcoming American Society of Hematology Meeting in December. Chris presented our study on kidney cancer screening practices on behalf of Alyssa and team at the American Transplant Congress in June!
Publications
We have been busy publishing the results of our work, focusing on the mechanisms and outcomes of immunotherapies in transplant patients, and you can find links to three recent articles here:
Anti-HLA antibodies in recipients of CD19 versus BCMA-targeted CAR T-cell therapy.
CD19 CAR-T therapy in solid organ transplant recipients: case report and systematic review.
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Use in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: A Systematic Review.
Cancer and Organ Transplant Clinic
The CICT Cancer and Organ Transplant Clinic (COTC) is heading into Year 3! We celebrated ongoing growth and meaningful contributions in June with CICT and COTC team members, as well as CICT committee members, all while looking out over the shores of Lake Washington.
Housed at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, the COTC is the first of its kind multi-disciplinary consult clinic for organ transplant candidates and recipients with cancer. We are thrilled to be serving patients from around the country, both in person and by telemedicine! Our clinic is unique in that patients benefit from a novel and personalized consultation, and in one appointment see both their cancer and transplant specialists, first separately and then together.
Hear more about the COTC and CICT in this recent NBC news segment!
Outreach
You can always find our latest news on our website as well as on X (@cictonline), LinkedIn and Facebook. We are delighted to report that the CICT website is newly available in Spanish, and the 4-min introduction CICT video (found on the website) now has Spanish subtitles—just click the CC button in the player's bottom toolbar. Nuestro video, ahora con subtítulos en español! We would be grateful for your support in sharing these updates with any Spanish-speaking communities you are a part of.
Invitation to Support CICT
While we continue working hard to care for patients and advance our knowledge of cancers in high risk transplant patients, we need resources to achieve our mission - transforming the lives of people with cancer and organ transplants through integrated healthcare and research. We invite you to make a financial contribution to CICT, whether in honor of a loved one battling cancer or transplant, or in memory of friend or family member. Please know that your donation will be used to further our mission. You can make a tax-deductible donation here: Make a Tax-Deductible Donation
We can also accept donations of stock, personal checks, or donations from a foundation. Contact the CICT Team at cict@uw.edu for more information on these ways to donate.
Any way you choose to be involved, we are so grateful and couldn’t do it without you! Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments.
Thank you,
