Another factor separates Kesting from others who have arthritis. She is among the 10 percent of patients with rheumatoid arthritis who do not respond to current therapies. Dr. O'Dell and his colleagues Lynell Klassen, M.D., professor of rheumatology, and Steve Pavletic, M.D., assistant professor of oncology, a specialist in stem cell transplantation, wanted to change that prognosis. Three years ago, the physicians began discussing the possibility of combining UNMC's strengths in rheumatology and transplantation to give this group of patients new hope. Stem cells from the bone marrow and the circulating blood have been used at UNMC for nearly two decades to rescue or restore the immune system of cancer patients undergoing high dose chemotherapy or radiation.
Stem cells are the foundation of the immune system.
Dr. Pavletic noticed accounts in the medical journals about cancer patients who received a stem cell transplant from a donor, called an allogenic transplant, and were surprisingly cured of their arthritis as well. Successful animal experiments during the past 20 years have proved this observation was no fluke. The path to this point has been long and indirect, Dr. Klassen said. The benefits of research are that discoveries or knowledge gained in one area can often apply to others. The three physicians call it resetting the immune system.