New hope for juggling organ transplants and MCC

Dr. Chris Blosser, a nephrologist at UW Medicine, established the Center for Innovations in Cancer & Transplant (CICT) after noticing that many of his patients were likely to develop cancer soon after their transplant, much like his aunt who passed away from lymphoma shortly after receiving a kidney transplant. Organ transplant recipients must be on immunosuppressants, which are drugs that suppress the immune system so that the body doesn’t reject the transplanted organ. On the other hand, many cancer therapies are immunotherapies, which are drugs that turn on the immune system. Unfortunately, immunosuppresants and immunotherapies can work against each other and result in serious side effects. The CICT is intended to combat that by carefully coordinating care between both cancer and transplant specialists to determine optimaltreatment plans for patients with cancer who are also organ transplant recipients. The CICT is also working on creating a patient registry to conduct clinical research and help improve outcomes for such patients. 

Read the full article here: UW doctor investigates a mystery: the link between transplants and cancer | UW Magazine — University of Washington Magazine