Accomplishments

Medical-Research Advances

Hutchinson Center researchers have made many of the world’s most important medical-research advances during the last three decades. Some of the key research discoveries made at the Hutchinson Center are listed below.

• Bone-marrow transplantation, which has provided a cure to thousands of leukemia patients worldwide and boosted survival rates from nearly zero to as high as 80 percent.
• Mini-transplantation, a less toxic form of stem-cell transplantation that offers lifesaving treatment to older people and those unable to tolerate the rigors of high-dose treatment regimens.
• Application of stem-cell transplantation to a variety of cancers and genetic and immune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, scleroderma and lymphoma.

• The monoclonal antibody that led to Mylotarg: the first FDA-approved, antibody-targeted chemotherapy. The drug is a less toxic and more effective form of cancer treatment than standard chemotherapy.
• A technique, developed in collaboration with UW, to deliver radiation directly to cancer cells using radiolabeled antibodies, which spares healthy tissue.
• A new treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma based on antibody-targeted therapy, an approach now used to treat thousands of people annually.
• A promising treatment for patients with deadly metastatic melanoma, which uses an infusion of immune-system cells to target the cancer.

• A method of monitoring cancer risk and onset in patients with the precancerous condition Barrett’s esophagus. The technique has boosted survival rates for esophageal cancer from 5 percent to more than 80 percent.
• A protein marker in the blood, discovered with partners at the Pacific Northwest Research Institute, that may allow for more accurate early detection of ovarian cancer.
• A diagnostic test that indicates whether a woman with breast cancer would benefit from aggressive chemotherapy. This discovery saves patients from arduous treatments that would not help them.
• A new diagnostic test for lupus—the first screening breakthrough for the disease in 50 years.

• A technique for inserting changes into genes, which led to the first successful applications of gene therapy in humans.

• We played a leading role in the groundbreaking Women's Health Initiative study that revealed that hormone-replacement therapy can increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer, stroke and heart disease.
• A gene that plays a role in prostate-cancer susceptibility in young and middle-aged men.
• Study results that indicate three daily servings of vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage may lower a man’s risk of prostate cancer by nearly half.
• Findings that at least five glasses of water a day may lower a woman’s risk of colorectal cancer by more than 50 percent.
• Research showing that regular aerobic activity 3-4 hours a week may lower a woman’s risk of breast cancer by up to 40 percent.
• Study findings that vitamin A supplements do not prevent lung cancer in high-risk populations.

World-wide Impact

The Hutchinson Center's research spans the globe and leads the way in numerous research and scientific endeavors. Examples of these efforts include:

• The Hutchinson Center trains physicians from many countries in bone-marrow and stem-cell transplantation, which makes these lifesaving therapies available to tens of thousands of patients each year. More than 300 graduate and postdoctoral students are also trained at the center each year.
• The center treats patients from all over the world. More than 8,000 bone-marrow and stem-cell transplants have been performed at the Hutchinson Center and its treatment partnership, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
• More than 1 million people worldwide have participated in public-health studies led by Fred Hutchinson researchers. The center’s cancer prevention research program is a model for other institutions around the globe.
• The Hutchinson Center is the coordinating site for many national and international research studies, such as the Women’s Health Initiative, the most far-reaching study ever devoted to women’s health, and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, a global effort to develop and test successful HIV vaccines.
• Center researchers took part in a study that found that a single dose of an inexpensive drug can significantly reduce transmission of HIV from Ugandan mothers to their infants.