Immune Deficiencies and Histiocytic Disorders

University of Minnesota Blood and Marrow Transplant Program for Immune Deficiencies and Histiocytic Disorders

The world’s first successful bone marrow transplant was performed in 1968 at the University of Minnesota in a child with severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome. Since that time, the Blood and Marrow Program at the University of Minnesota has been a leader in the field of blood and marrow transplantation for children with primary immunodeficiencies, such as Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and SCID syndrome, and histiocytic disorders, such as Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) and Langerhans’ Cell Histiocytosis (LCH).

Dr. K. Scott Baker leads the research team and clinical trials in the Immune Deficiency and Histiocytic Disorders Program. Dr. Baker is a member of the Pan American Group for Immunodeficiencies, the Clinical Immunology Society, the Histiocyte Society, and a member of the Immune Deficiencies and Metabolic Disorders working committee of the Center for International Bone Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR).

The Immune Deficiency and Histiocytic Disorders Program continues to explore innovative strategies in transplantation in order to make them safer, with higher success rates, and more widely available.

The principal focus of our current research efforts include:

• Use of umbilical cord blood stem cells form unrelated donors to expand availability of BMT for all patients with immune deficiencies, HLH and LCH
• New methods of T cell depletion of related and unrelated donor stem cells in order to reduce the risk of transplant therapy
• Novel--reduced intensity--preparative regimens designed to reduce risks and complications in children
• Gene therapy clinical trial for treatment of immune deficiency

Relevant Publications

• Baker KS, DeLaat CA, Gross TG, Shapiro, RS, Loechelt B, Steinbuch M, Harris R, Filipovich AH. Successful correction of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis with related or unrelated bone marrow transplantation. Blood. 89:3857-3863, 1997.
• Nagarajan R, Neglia J, Ramsay N, Baker KS. Successful treatment of refractory Langerhan’s cell histiocytosis with unrelated cord blood transplantation. J Ped Hem Onc 23(9):629-632, 2001.
• Wagner JE, Barker JN, DeFor TE, Baker KS, Blazar BR, Eide C, Goldman A, Kersey J, Krivit W, MacMillan M, Orchard PJ, Peters C, Weisdorf DJ, Ramsay NKC, Davies SM. Transplantation of unrelated donor umbilical cord blood in 102 patients with malignant and nonmalignant diseases: influence of CD34 cell dose and HLA disparity on treatment-related mortality and survival. Blood 100(5):1611-1618, 2002.
• Baker KS, Wagner JE. Novel conditioning regimens and nonmyeloablative stem cell transplants. Current Opinions in Pediatrics 14(1):17-22, 2002.

Open Treatment Protocols: