Bone Marrow Transplant Expertise and Accolades

May 6, 2024 
This page was reviewed under our medical and editorial policy by Leslie Popplewell, M.D., Hematologist and Medical Director of Hematology and Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant, City of Hope Atlanta

City of Hope^® has one of the nation’s largest and most successful stem cell and bone marrow transplant programs. A recognized pioneer when it comes to advancing cancer care, the organization was among the first six medical centers in the United States to begin treating leukemia patients with blood and marrow transplantation in 1976. Since then, City of Hope has been leading the way in stem cell and bone marrow research and working to improve treatment options and outcomes for cancer patients.

City of Hope Is a Leader in Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Transplants

To date, City of Hope has performed nearly 20,000 stem cell and bone marrow transplant procedures through its cancer centers in Atlanta, Chicago, Duarte and Phoenix. These potentially lifesaving cancer treatments replace bone marrow with healthy cells from a patient’s own body (autologous transplant) or from a donor (allogeneic transplant).

In a patient with the appropriate treatment team and support, stem cell and bone marrow transplants may lead to improved outcomes and survival rates when treated for leukemia, myeloma and lymphoma, as well as other blood and immune system diseases that affect the bone marrow. The experts at City of Hope perform hematopoietic cell transplants on patients ranging from infants to 79 years of age.

Bone marrow transplant research conducted at City of Hope has advanced stem cell and bone marrow transplant technology, paving the way toward more appropriate and safer procedures. Known for its speed, efficiency and collaboration, City of Hope is a leader in bringing technology in transplantation with stem cells derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood and cord blood from the laboratory bench to the bedside.

City of Hope focuses on traditional and leading-edge applications, including the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy instead of chemotherapy to induce remission before transplant, as well as the use of reduced intensity or low-dose regimens for older patients or those with co-existing medical conditions. Other areas of research include genetic typing for donor selection and new ways to prevent and treat graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), which may occur if the donor cells attack the recipient’s cells after perceiving them as a threat. City of Hope has been involved in the pivotal studies for all four GVHD treatments approved between 2020 and 2024, most recently axatilimab, which was approved in August 2024. City of Hope’s high quality/leading HCT program is uniquely positioned to participate in novel studies like these and is at the forefront in advancing treatments in transplant conditioning and GVHD management so our patient continue to have excellent outcomes.

City of Hope has exceptional survival rates, according to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. At 79.3%, the center's one-year survival results exceed expected rates, according to the National Marrow Donor Program^® (NMDP). City of Hope also offers survivorship programs with follow-up care for adult and pediatric patients.

Bone marrow and stem cell transplant teams at City of Hope Cancer Centers have expertise in treating patients with:

• Leukemia 
• Acute myeloid leukemia
• Acute lymphocytic leukemia
• Chronic myeloid leukemia
• Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
• Lymphoma 
  • Hodgkin lymphoma
  • Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
• Myeloma 
• Myelodysplastic syndromes
• Other hematologic disorders

Center for Cancer and Aging and Bone Marrow Transplants

As the population ages, growing numbers of patients older than 65 are being diagnosed with cancer, including blood cancers. Improved diagnostics and treatment advances have also created a large population of older survivors. With research lacking on issues facing older cancer patients, including how age-related declines in physical function and simultaneous medical conditions affect treatment tolerance and outcomes, City of Hope’s Center for Cancer and Aging is working to develop evidence-based protocols to treat older patients using bone marrow transplants.

This includes regimens that are easier to tolerate for older patients without compromising efficacy.

CAR T Cells as a Bridge to Bone Marrow Transplant

CAR T cell therapy, a form of immunotherapy that’s changing the way many cancers are treated, empowers the patient’s own immune system in the fight against cancer. This novel therapy involves extracting a patient’s T cells and reprogramming them to attack a specific protein found in cancer cells. The reprogrammed cells are then reintroduced into the body to destroy targeted tumor cells.

More than a dozen CAR T cell therapy clinical trials are taking place at City of Hope Cancer Centers are being held at any one time, including studies of patients with multiple myeloma, prostate cancer, liver cancer and breast cancer. The hope is that CAR T cell therapy combined with stem cell transplants will push a disease into remission before a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. Research is continuing about the benefits and risks of CAR T cell therapy combined with bone marrow transplants.

Doctors typically use chemotherapy, often multiple, to induce remission, but it doesn't always work. Unlike CAR T cell therapy, which takes a targeted approach, chemotherapy kills all fast-growing cells in the body, including both cancer cells and healthy cells. This is why chemotherapy is associated with side effects such as hair loss, nausea and vomiting.

As a potential “bridge” to transplants, CAR T cell therapies may allow patients to undergo a transplant when they otherwise couldn't have one.

Pioneering Bone Marrow Transplants for HIV- and AIDS-related Lymphoma

People with HIV are living longer thanks to advances in antiretroviral therapy. However, many are at risk of other health conditions, especially blood cancers, as they age. City of Hope was among the first U.S. centers to perform autologous stem cell transplants in patients with HIV-related lymphoma. It’s now leading the way in treating HIV- and AIDS-related lymphoma via bone marrow transplants.

The center took a leading role in two National Cancer Institute-sponsored trials for autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation for patients with HIV and blood cancers that changed practice.

In July 2022, City of Hope researchers announced that a patient who had been HIV-positive for more than 30 years had gone into remission for HIV and acute myeloid leukemia as a result of a transplant using stem cells from a donor with homozygous CCR5 Delta 32. This is a rare genetic mutation that makes people resistant to acquiring HIV. The patient was 63, making him the oldest patient in the world to receive a transplant and go into remission for HIV and leukemia.

And the innovations keep coming: City of Hope scientists have developed CAR T cells that may target and destroy HIV-infected cells and control HIV in preclinical research. Plans are underway for a clinical trial using the innovative CAR T cell therapy.

Nationally Recognized

City of Hope's flagship hospital in Duarte, California, has been distinguished as a comprehensive cancer center, the National Cancer Institute (NCI)’s highest designation, since 1998. This means it meets rigorous standards for research aimed at developing new and improved approaches to preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer.

City of Hope Duarte is also a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a not-for-profit alliance of 33 cancer centers devoted to patient care, research and education.

The Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (​CIBMTR) ranked City of Hope as an “overperforming” transplant center, and City of Hope is the sole transplant center in the U.S. to hold this status for more than a decade.

The City of Hope transplant program is accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT), which sets the standard for excellence for blood and bone marrow transplant programs in the United States. Since 1989, the City of Hope transplant program has also been an NMDP transplant center.

For 17 years in a row, City of Hope has been ranked among the nation’s “Best Hospitals” in cancer by U.S. News & World Report, the last two years in the top 10.

Meet our Leaders in Bone Marrow Transplantation

City of Hope's premier Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation department is led by: