Admission requirements
Sufficient knowledge of Immunology is required (comparable to the Immunology course in the BSc Biomedical Sciences Leiden).
Successful completion of How To Write A Research Proposal is strongly recommended.
Students who passed the half minor Immunotherapy of Cancer in BSc, are discouraged to follow the FOS course.
Description
Period: 21 October 2024 - 15 November 2024
The course will give detailed insight into clinical and research aspects of allogeneic stem cell transplantation and immunotherapy to treat leukemia and other hematological malignancies. In allogeneic stem cell transplantation, the patient is transplanted with an immune system from a healthy donor to induce an effective immune response against the tumor cells. The tumor cells of the patient are foreign to the donor-derived immune system and will be attacked. Unfortunately, the tumor cells are not the only foreign cells. Healthy tissues of the patient are often also targeted, which may lead to severe side effects and a life-threatening complication known as Graft-versus-Host Disease. Inducing an optimal balance between desired anti-tumor immunity and undesired side effects is relevant to improve overall survival and quality of life of patients with leukemia or other hematological malignancies after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
Students will be introduced to different aspects through lectures given by experts in the field followed by self-study assignments, which will be discussed in workgroups through team-based learning. Students will be trained in critical reading of recently published research papers and will practice in oral presentations and participation in discussions. Students will attend patient demonstrations, and visit the outpatient clinic as well as the diagnostic laboratory of the department of Hematology. Students will write a newspaper article, present a scientific paper, present a patient case from the visit outpatient clinic and write a brief report on the experiments performed in the diagnostic laboratory. The course will be finished with a written exam consisting of several insight questions on the working mechanisms of allogeneic stem cell transplantation and immunotherapy.
Students will be introduced to the following aspects of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and immunotherapy:
Normal hematopoiesis, leukemia, and other hematological malignancies and their treatment modalities.
Transplantation of a patient with an immune system from a healthy donor (allo-immunity); the desired anti-tumor effect and undesired complications known as graft versus host disease.
Use and manipulation of donor T lymphocytes to treat leukemia and other hematological malignancies in transplanted patients.
Donor T lymphocytes recognizing antigens in transplanted patients (allo-reactive T cells); characterization of allo-reactive T cells and their HLA-binding targets.
Interactions between leukemic cells and the immune system, donor selection and graft versus host disease.
Therapeutic antibodies to treat leukemia and other hematological malignancies in transplanted patients.
Production and use of cellular therapy to treat leukemia and other hematological malignancies.
Gene therapy with chimeric antigen receptors and T cell receptors as cellular anti-tumor therapy.
Course objectives
Collect and analyze relevant data for diagnosis of leukemia
Consider the benefits and threats of different treatment protocols for allogeneic stem cell transplantation and donor lymphocyte infusion
Explain the basic concepts of allogeneic stem cell transplantation as a treatment modality for hematological malignancies
Relate the type of antigens and immunological responses as exploited by immunotherapy to evaluate clinical benefits and threats after allogeneic stem cell transplantation
Compare different immunotherapies, evaluate their (potential) benefits and threats, and propose improvements
Translate the main message of a novel immunotherapy to a lay audience in the form of a newspaper article
Timetable
All course and group schedules are published on MyTimeTable.
The exam dates have been determined by the Education Board and are published in MyTimeTable.
It will be announced in MyTimeTable and/or Brightspace when and how the post-exam feedback will be organized.
Mode of instruction
Lectures, self-study assignments, work groups, practicals.
Assessment method
Summative assessment:
Oral presentation
Newspaper article
Written exam
Formative assessment:
- Report diagnostics (pass/fail)
The exam dates can be found on the schedule website.
Reading list
Will be distributed during the course.
Registration
Registration for FOS courses, H2W, Scientific Conduct, Course on Lab Animal Sciences and CRiP takes place in lottery rounds in the beginning of July. After the lottery rounds: if you want to register for a course you are kindly asked to contact the student administration at masterbms-courses@lumc.nl.