Wesley Center for Immunotherapy at UH Seidman Cancer Center Officially Opens

After more than two years of construction, the expanded and improved Wesley Center for Immunotherapy at UH Seidman Cancer Center has officially opened. The opening comes after a generous $10 million gift in 2020 from Kimberly and the late Joseph Wesley.

"The Wesley gift was the centerpiece of this project,” said Ted Teknos, MD, President and Scientific Director of UH Seidman Cancer Center and the Jane and Lee Seidman Chair in Cancer Innovation. “Those funds provided the capital we needed to get started and was also the inspiration to create this enhancement of our cell therapy facilities."

Koen van Besien, MD, PhD, UH Seidman Cancer Center Hematology Chief and Director of Wesley Center for Immunotherapy, and the Don C. Dangler Chair in Stem Cell Research says he’s honored for the opportunity to direct the new center. “This beautiful and unique facility will help us to bring top scientists to UH. It will firmly establish us among the leaders in cellular immunotherapy.”

Immunotherapy is the process of empowering a patient’s own immune system to identify and attack cancer cells. Clinical trials have shown increased rates of remission and survival as well as decreased side effects compared to conventional chemotherapy. UH Seidman Cancer Center patients who have had CAR T-cell therapy have had an 80% overall response in complete and partial remission.

The new expansion more than triples the existing onsite cellular therapy space, allowing for more research and discoveries.

"We are uniquely positioned at UH Seidman Cancer Center to lead the cell therapy revolution that is happening in cancer care. Then, with the additional talent that Dr. van Besien brings, it really positions us well to be international leaders in cell therapy,” said Dr. Teknos.

"Not only will the Wesley Center for Immunotherapy at UH Seidman Cancer Center help us bring in additional talent, we’ve also created a lot of industry and academic partnerships because the lab is so effective at generating these therapies. These partners then contract with us to generate their products to be used in patients."

The existing lab opened in 2005 as part of the Case Western Reserve National Center for Regenerative Medicine consortium, which includes UH. Since then, the Cellular Therapy Lab has manufactured 439 cellular products for UH and other hospitals in the region and nationally, and treated 134 patients with immunotherapy clinical trials.