Committed to Excellence in Cancer Research, Education and Patient Care
Inroads
July 2023
Tulane Only Center in Louisiana Accredited to Offer
CAR-T Cell Therapy for Some Hematologic Malignancies
Hana Safah, MD, director of Tulane Cancer Center's Stem Cell Transplant Program, says they expect to begin treating eligible patients with CAR-T cell therapy within the next three months.
Tulane Medical Center was recently accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) to provide chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy to patients with certain hematologic malignancies, making Tulane the only FACT-accredited center for this type of cancer treatment in Louisiana.

"We are very excited to offer this new therapy to eligible patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, multiple myeloma, follicular lymphoma, and mantle cell lymphoma," said Hana Safah, MD, director of Tulane's Stem Cell Transplant Program. "We are currently evaluating patients and expect to begin treating within the next three months."

CAR-T cell therapy is a form of immunotherapy that re-engineers a patient's T cells – immune system cells that help to orchestrate immune response – to express proteins called chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) on their surface that will recognize cancer cells, bind to antigens on the surface of these cancer cells and then destroy them.

The T cells are harvested from patients via a blood collection and are then re-engineered in the lab through the insertion of the gene for CAR. Millions of these new CAR-T cells are grown in the lab and then infused back into the patient, where they multiply in the patient's body and with guidance from their engineered receptor, recognize and kill cancer cells that harbor the target antigen on their surfaces.

Since 2017, six CAR-T cell therapies approved by the Food and Drug Administration have shown an ability to eradicate very advanced leukemias and lymphomas and to keep them at bay for many years in some patients.

"The treatment process is lengthy," said Nakhle Saba, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine in the Stem Cell Transplant Program. "It takes a few weeks to collect the patient's blood, isolate the T cells, ship the cells to our commercial partner where they will be re-engineered and multiplied, and then ship them back for infusion."

But researchers are working on ways to improve the process. "Including clinical trials in the pipeline at Tulane and elsewhere that are harvesting T cells from healthy donors and re-engineering them so they're 'on the shelf' and ready to use when sick patients need them," said Saba, "as well as trials that are examining the role of CAR cell therapies using other types of immune cells, such as NK or natural killer cells, in an effort to overcome some of the side effects of CAR-T."

These side effects can include a reduction in antibody-producing B cells, infections, neurologic issues, and a condition called cytokine release syndrome, which can cause high fevers and drops in blood pressure. In many patients, side effects can be managed with drugs or steroids.

If you are interested in learning more about CAR-T cell therapy or the clinical trials mentioned above, please contact Tulane Cancer Center's Stem Cell Transplant Program at 504-988-6070 or email Dr. Safah at hsafah@tulane.edu or Dr. Saba at nsaba@tulane.edu.
Nakhle Saba, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine in the Stem Cell Transplant Program, is currently evaluating patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, multiple myeloma, follicular lymphoma, and mantle cell lymphoma to determine if they are eligible candidates for CAR-T cell therapy.
New AI System That Decodes Fruit Fly Behaviors ‘Pivotal’ for Future Human Genetics Research
The MAFDA system can track individual flies within a larger group, identify behaviors, and compare those behaviors with fruit flies' genotypes. (Story by Andrew Yawn; photo by Tulane University)
How can you tell if a fruit fly is hungry? Ask a computer.

While that may sound like a bad dad joke, it’s reality at Tulane University, where researchers have developed a new A.I. tool that can tell you if a fruit fly is hungry, sleepy or singing (yes, fruit flies sing). 

Dubbed MAFDA (for Novel Machine-learning-based Automatic Fly-behavioral Detection and Annotation) the system uses cameras and a newly developed software to track and identify complex interactive behaviors of individual flies within a larger group. This allows researchers to compare and contrast the behaviors of fruit flies with different genetic backgrounds.

For more than a century, scientists have used fruit flies’ simple genome and short lifespan to decode mysteries of inheritance and immunity in humans with studies of Drosophila melanogaster, as fruit flies are known in the scientific world, nabbing six Nobel Prizes. Fruit flies and humans share 60 percent of the same DNA.

Previous algorithms were less accurate at tracking individual flies within a group, but the MAFDA system makes studying the tiny, winged insects easier.

“Fruit flies are like pioneers in the discovery of new things, from innate immunity to the chromosome theory of inheritance,” said corresponding author Wu-Min Deng, PhD., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and the Gerald & Flora Jo Mansfield Piltz Endowed Professor in Cancer Research at Tulane School of Medicine. “To be able to quantify the flies’ behavior is really a step forward in behavior studies.”

Wenkan Liu, a School of Medicine graduate student who developed the MAFDA system, said the significance of the platform is “undeniable.”

“It speeds up research, minimizes human error, and provides intricate insights into behavior genetics,” Liu said. “This tool is potentially pivotal as it enhances reproducibility and paves the way for new explorations in large-scale behavioral analysis.”

MAFDA was developed as part of a recent study, which discovered that the gene that causes flies to perceive pheromones, chemical substances produced by other fruit flies that are vital to attraction and other processes, is the same gene that controls pheromone production in the first place. These findings, published in Science Advances, challenge the status quo view that separate genes control pheromone production and perception. The findings have broad applications in the fields of human behavioral evolution, metabolism and sex dimorphism. 

Going forward, the researchers hope to see MAFDA used in a variety of applications. Jie Sun, lead author and postdoctoral fellow at Tulane School of Medicine, said MAFDA could eventually be used to study other insects as well as mice and fish, and the system may be useful in studying drug effects in humans.

“The more information we give the machine, the better it gets at correctly identifying different behaviors from courtship to feeding and so on,” Sun said. “This is a very important, meaningful tool.”

MAFDA is already in use on other research projects at Tulane and researchers are working to package the system so it can be used by more scientists both at Tulane and around the world.

“That’s the goal,” Deng said. “The original idea was to be able to identify the health status of flies. That may be too much to ask right now, but we’re hoping this will be more broadly used by the community and hopefully in the future we can go in that direction.”
ACS Study Shows Cancer Mortality Rates Decreasing Globally, Except Liver Cancer in Males and Lung Cancer in Females
Friendly female doctor hands holding patient hand sitting at the desk for encouragement_ empathy_ cheering and support while medical examination. Bad news lessening_ trust and ethics concept
A new study conducted by scientists at the American Cancer Society (ACS) and Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center reveals recent mortality rates for all major cancers decreased in most of the studied countries except lung cancer in females and liver cancer in males, where increasing rates were observed in most countries. The research also showed that cancer-specific mortality rates varied substantially across countries, with rates of lung and cervical cancer varying by 10-fold. The study was published recently in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Highlights from the study results include:

  • Lung cancer mortality rates increased in females in 24 countries by 0.3%-4.3% annually with the most rapid increase seen in Spain (4.3% per year), Uruguay (3.7% per year), and Greece (3.2% per year). Of the 24 countries for which mortality rates increased among females, 22 were in Europe.
  • Liver cancer mortality rates also increased in females in 15 countries by 0.9%-4.5% annually with the most rapid increases in the UK (4.5% per year), Norway (3.4% per year), Denmark (3.1%), and Australia (3.1% per year).
  • Liver cancer mortality rates in males increased in 23 of 47 countries, including many in Europe, North America, and Oceania, by 0.8%-5.8% annually with the most rapid increases in Ireland (5.8% per year), Norway (5.3% per year), and Malta (4.8% per year).
  • The increase in death rates from liver cancer is thought to largely reflect the high prevalence of Hepatitis C infection (USA) and non-viral etiology, such as obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease as well as heavy alcohol consumption.
  • Cervical cancer mortality rates decreased in 28 of 47 countries by 0.4%-5.2% per year with the most rapid decreases in Singapore (5.2% per year), Switzerland (4.7% per year), and the Republic of Korea (4.4% per year). Rates, nonetheless, increased by 0.5%-2.5% annually in six countries across different regions of the world (Kyrgyzstan, Japan, Greece, Italy, Argentina, and Latvia).

Dr. Ephrem Sedeta of Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center and lead author of the study noted that understanding the current cancer burden and its trends is a crucial step to monitoring progress made against cancer and identifying disparities across countries. “There is limited published data on recent cancer mortality trends worldwide. The findings based on the up-to-date cancer mortality data may help set priorities for national and international cancer control efforts and in so doing, reduce the marked global cancer disparities observed today,” Sedeta said.

The researchers emphasize the importance of implementing effective measures such as tobacco control, vaccination, promoting healthy lifestyles, and systematic screening to prevent a large proportion of cancer cases globally.
Death by Chocolate a Sweet Success
Krewe de Pink honored 11 "Sweet Survivors" at their annual Death by Chocolate...NOT Breast Cancer fundraiser.
"All You Need Is Love, But a Little Chocolate Now and Then Doesn't Hurt!"
-- Charles M. Schulz

The Schoen Mansion, courtesy of Jacob Schoen & Son, was awash in all shades of pink for this year's Death by Chocolate...NOT Breast Cancer fundraiser – Krewe de Pink's signature summer event that benefits Tulane Cancer Center's Breast Cancer Research Program.

Guests were treated to a chocolate and champagne tasting that doubled as a cooking competition for students of Delgado's Culinary and Pastry Arts Program. The challenge? Come up with the best dish – sweet or savory – that utilizes chocolate as an ingredient. The judges? Three local celebrity judges – Christopher Nobles of Piety & Desire Chocolate, Chef Dee Lavigne of Deelightful Roux School of Cooking, and Erin Seidemann, certified chocolate taster and writer of the blog Destination: Chocolate – determined the Judges' Choice winners, and guests of the event voted for People's Choice favorites. All of the entries were innovative and delectable, but a few stood out from the rest...

Judges' Choice Winners

SWEET
Dymonika Gayden – Chocolate Cookie Cheesecake

SAVORY
Terri Searcy – Yakamein Wonton Soup

ALUMNI
Enjoli Kaufman – “Eat Your Tart Out”


People’s Choice Winners

SWEET
1st Place – Dymonika Gayden – Chocolate Cookie Cheesecake
2nd Place – Geneva Hebert – Café Au Rose

SAVORY
1st Place – Terri Searcy – Yakamein Wonton Soup
2nd Place – Jon Connors – Chocolate Braised Pork

ALUMNI
1st Place – Enjoli Kaufman – “Eat Your Tart Out”
2nd Place – Daniel Mack – Goat Cheese Honey Crostini

"We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to all who participated in this uniquely New Orleans-style event," said Christopher Costello, Krewe de Pink president. "Our festive guests, the Sweet Survivors, our members and many generous sponsors, and Delgado's instructors and students made this event a huge success and helped us raise over $18,000. We are deeply grateful."

Krewe de Pink is a New Orleans-based 501c3 organization dedicated to raising funds for breast cancer research. Dollars raised by the organization benefit Tulane Cancer Center's Breast Cancer Research Fund.

In addition to Death by Chocolate, Krewe de Pink plans and hosts two other annual fundraisers, including:

  • Pink Bra Run – a walk/run and bike ride held along the picturesque Mississippi River levee in Algiers in the spring
  • Krewe de Pink Prom – like the one you attended in high school, complete with prom king and queen, held each year in the fall

For more information on Krewe de Pink or any of these events, please visit their website at www.krewedepink.org.
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