David and Etta Jonas Center for Cellular Therapy

Michael Bishop, MD, in cellular therapy lab

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Leaders in Cellular Therapy Care & Research

Cellular therapy — the transfer of human cells to heal or replace damaged tissue or cells — holds much promise for patients with cancer and other diseases. A type of immunotherapy, cellular therapies are transforming the way we treat cancer, bringing us closer to finding a cure.

The physicians and scientists at the David and Etta Jonas Center for Cellular Therapy at the University of Chicago Medicine have long been leaders in cellular therapy research and clinical care. Two types of cellular therapy — stem cell transplants and CAR T-cell therapy — were first tested in clinical trials. We participated in and were leaders in these trials, being among the first to bring these breakthrough approaches to our patients. Today, many of our patients receive these life-saving treatments on an outpatient basis, allowing them to return to the comfort of their home or nearby accommodations between treatments and appointments.

Established & Emerging Cellular Therapies

Stem Cell Transplantation (SCT)

Transplanting blood and bone marrow stem cells is a well-established cellular therapy for many cancers and blood diseases. SCT involves harvesting stem cells from the bone marrow or blood of a patient or donor, and then transfusing them into the patient after their unhealthy bone marrow has been destroyed.

CAR T-Cell Therapy

CAR T-cell therapy involves modifying a patient’s T cells to recognize and attack cancer cells. UChicago Medicine played a key role in developing this groundbreaking treatment, and we were the first medical center in the United States to be certified in this therapy for specific blood cancers in adults and children.

TIL Therapy

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy is an innovative new cancer treatment for patients with advanced melanoma. TIL therapy is a type of cellular immunotherapy that can help your immune system kill cancer cells when other treatments have failed. We're proud to be among the first hospitals in the nation to offer TIL therapy.

Cellular Therapy Resources

John Cunningham, MD, and Daniela Lakosilova

Pediatric Cellular Therapy

University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital pediatric hematology-oncology specialists are recognized experts in cellular therapy, and were the first in Illinois to offer CAR T-cell therapy to treat pediatric cancer.

Clinical Trials

Our physicians are conducting several clinical trials of promising new cellular therapies to treat blood cancers and solid tumors.

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For Medical Professionals

Refer a patient, find a clinical trial, view treatment guidelines and more. We welcome consults and referrals for any patient who may benefit from cellular therapy treatment.

Cellular Therapy Resources for Medical Professionals

David and Etta Jonas Center for Cellular Therapy

The Jonas Center unites a team of experts dedicated to improving cellular therapy, especially CAR T-cell therapy, an emerging form of cancer treatment.

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING] The University of Chicago Medical Center is involved in research around amazing new cancer finding treatments called immunotherapy. This lifesaving research could have the biggest impact on cancer therapies in recent history.

Immunotherapy has become one of the greatest advancements in oncology in the past 10 years. Specifically, CAR-T cell is a form of cellular therapy where you take the patient's own cells and they are genetically modified to fight the cancer.

We have staked out a leading position or a leadership role for the institution in a number of very important areas, particularly the application of certain novel technologies to patient treatments. And cellular therapy is one of them.

This is the genesis of the David and Edda Jonas Center for Cellular Therapy at UChicago Medicine. David Jonas has been involved in health care products and services for most of his professional life.

Chemotherapy will never eradicate the last cancer cell. And the only system that can eradicate the last cancer cell is our own immune system. So that's what really got me interested in the program.

CAR-T cell therapy is unique. It uses cells taken from the patient that are modified. These supercharged cells are returned to the patient where they fight and eradicate the cancer cells. UChicago medicine was the first site in the country to be certified for CAR-T cell therapies for both adults and children.

Feeling fantastic. I've been feeling really good. People on the streets now, if they didn't know I was sick, they would have never known I had cancer for-- battled it for six years.

These T cells are taken to a laboratory. And then they're genetically modified using a virus kind of like a Trojan horse effect. It's a very benign virus that infects the cells. And then within its genetic material, it's incorporated into those cells and turns them into cancer fighting cells.

But the therapy doesn't work for all cancers. It is currently used for liquid tumors, leukemia, and related diseases. The hope is to expand usage to solid tumors like lung cancer and ovarian cancers, which are much more common.

To use basic science technology that is being developed at the University of Chicago to evolve the technology so that it would be applicable to patients and then to test how these new approaches can be used to treat not just liquid tumors but also solid tumors. And if we can accomplish even part of that, it will be part of a major transformation in cancer therapy that will be applicable to many, many patients.

Jonas learned about the University of Chicago and UChicago Medicine before making the $10 million gift.

When you look at the university with its history, they have a tremendous track record in attracting the kind of talent-- the scientific talent that you would need to put around the program.

Philanthropy is vitally important for this type of research and these types of lifesaving discoveries. Without generous donors like David Jonas, this type of research might not be possible at this level.

Well, it enables us to take risk. You know, so if you look at this example, it's a very high risk venture. The yield is obviously enormous. I mean you can imagine if you can develop a novel cellular-based therapy for a significant number of solid tumors in this country or across the world, it's going to be transformative.

It's transformative research that makes a huge impact. The Jonas Center will recruit leading experts in T cell biology and cell engineering. It will expand clinical trials, allow for acquisition of new technology for the laboratory, and, most importantly, it will give hope to people who previously had done.

This is the most exciting time in my entire career, because we are seeing the benefits of very good basic science taking the translational science. And I actually think in the next 10 years, there'll be a further revolution in how we bring all components together to fight cancer. And I think it's going to be more efficacious. It's going to be less toxic. And I think that there is going to be hope for people again who never had hope before.

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