Where research becomes treatment in real time

The new hematology program which was presented at IEO on the 13^th May will integrate the most up to date skills available in Europe, a clinic for patients which will be open round the clock - 7 days a week and will encompass a program of drug-discovery based on the American model for the treatment of lymphoma, leukemia and myeloma. Pier Giuseppe Pelicci is the Program Director and will be supported by Stefano Pileri, head of Diagnosis, Corrado Tarella, head of Clinical Oncology, Francesco Bertolini, head of the clinical Hematology Laboratory. Riccardo Dalla Favera from the Institute for Cancer Genetics at Columbia University (NY) will be a consultant for the research program.

This will be the only place in Europe where cutting edge research, advanced diagnostics and clinical expertise will be combined to offer the patient the most appropriate therapy for his specific tumour - explains Pelicci.

We aim to create a network of national and international collaborations to ensure our patients early access to the most innovative drugs normally only available in clinical trials. The Program of Drug Discovery, recently created in IEO, will be dedicated to the development of new Molecular medicines for leukemia and lymphomas. It will combine basic biological research from IEO with a team of medicinal chemists with experience in industrial drug discovery. A similar set up already exists in Harvard and MD Anderson but is a first here in Italy.

By bringing together, under one roof, international experts, the aim is to translate the results from basic research into the clinic in months rather than years. One outcome already from the collaboration between Stefano Pileri and Francesco Bertolini was the demonstrate that the combination demethylating drugs, already available for the treatment of other hematological diseases, could be an effective therapy for ‘blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm’ (BPDCN), a rare cancer of the blood and skin, for which there was no effective treatment.

Today’s hemato-pathologist must use the latest technology, including large-scale genome sequencing to identify possible therapeutic targets” - explains Pileri. This is crucial for lymphoma and leukemia, for which a wide range of targeted drugs already exists, but they need to be matched with the correct patient. For this we need centers able to carry out advanced diagnostics using sophisticated technology and highly skilled staff. To this end the new unit of Hematopathological Diagnosis at IEO aims to become a national reference center.

In this new program the patient will be the focus and will be treated individually - explains Tarella. “They will follow a structured path dedicated to their particular needs. We have set up an emergency room and a specialist will be on hand 24 hours a day (among the first in Italy) to ensure immediate access to the the hospital if necessary.

"The uniqueness of the new unit - declares Favera - is that it is formed by a team of ‘brains’ with different backgrounds and from different institutions. Unlike in the States and the UK, this situation is unusual in Italy”.

Haematology has always been a playing ground for the development of new cancer therapies - concludes Pelicci – older examples are the combination chemotherapies while more recently molecular medicines. The reason for this is that these therapies were developed based on an understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind the disease. The Hematology program aims to continue along these lines so that innovative research will lead to new therapies that will get to patients quickly and save lives now.