Guenther Koehne, MD, PhD

I am a physician-scientist whose clinical focus is treating patients with hematologic malignancies, and I have particular expertise in allogeneic (donor-derived) hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, myelodysplastic syndrome, and multiple myeloma. At Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, we are pioneering a new type of stem cell transplantation in which we remove a specific subset of cells (T cells) from the donor’s stem cells before the transplant; this significantly reduces the so-called graft-versus-host reactions. As the principle investigator, I am leading a clinical trial to study the effectiveness of T cell-depleted transplants from related and unrelated donors in patients with high-risk multiple myeloma.

My research has focused on ways to reduce rates of disease recurrence following allogeneic stem cell transplantations. In particular, I am developing specific donor-derived immune cells (T lymphocytes) to treat both the viral complications of transplantation and disease relapse following transplantation. This treatment approach has been termed “adoptive immunotherapy” and we are testing it in several active clinical trials here at Memorial Sloan-Kettering.

In my function as the Medical Director of the Cytotherapy Laboratory (Bone Marrow Transplantation Laboratory), I am establishing new T cell depletion techniques and other methods to manipulate donor stem cell products that will optimize patients’ outcomes.