About the Program for Integrated Immunodeficiency and Cellular Therapy

Learning your child has a complex immune disorder that will require life-long monitoring – even after treatment – is something no family wants to hear. At Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, we have a dedicated program designed to improve your child's long-term health, provide ongoing medical and psychosocial support for your child and family, and additional resources as needed. While not all forms of primary immune deficiency require or are able to be treated with cellular therapy or transplant, these therapies are increasingly used for the most severe forms of immunodeficiency.

The Program for Integrated Immunodeficiency and Cellular Therapy (PIICT) provides comprehensive, patient-focused, long-term care to children with primary immune deficiencies treated with cellular therapies, and those with immune dysfunction after receiving cellular therapy for other diseases such as leukemia, metabolic or other blood cell diseases. PIICT uses an integrated care model to help patients with immune deficiencies through their entire journey – from diagnosis, through treatment, and onto long-term follow-up care.

Our patient-centered collaborative program brings together pediatric experts from Immunology, Cellular Therapy and other specialties to support children and their families as they cope with the long-term effects of their disease, treatments and any new health issues that arise.

Who we treat

Our program treats patients with a broad array of primary immunodeficiencies, including severe combined immunodeficiency, chronic granulomatous disease, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), and others that are amendable to definitive treatment with cellular therapy.

We also focus on coordinated support for patients who received cellular therapy for any indication who experience late-term effects of either the underlying disorder or the treatment itself, that impacts immune function. Our nurse navigation team is critically important in supporting patients who need continued immunologic monitoring and treatment with immunoglobulin replacement.

How we can help

Our work with patients begins at the time of their diagnosis with a primary immunodeficiency able to be treated with cellular therapy, continues through treatment in collaboration with our Cellular Therapy Program, and focuses on the long-term care and outcomes for these patients.

The collaborative approach of the Program for Integrated Immunodeficiency and Cellular Therapy offers patients:

  • A streamlined experience: Patients require fewer appointments when combining multiple evaluations into one clinic visit.
  • Improved outcomes: By simplifying the process, access to treatment is easier than ever.
  • Support to definitive therapies: The nature of our integrated team allows us to offer the best definitive therapy options to patients and their families. We offer consults with our team, as well as education to help improve the entire experience of pursuing treatment.
  • Longitudinal care: Our team provides long-term follow-up and coordinated care to patients and their families to manage any lasting effects of their disease, provide definitive therapy, and address any new health changes.

Our PIICT clinic is available twice a month – on the first and third Tuesdays of the month – in the Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care. During these visits, patients are provided with coordinated services from multiple specialists on one day. Pre-transplant visits are held on the sixth floor, post-transplant visits are held on the third floor.

In addition, our multidisciplinary team meets regularly to discuss updates for every child in our care. These internal group discussions – with some of the brightest minds in the world – help us find solutions for even the most complex challenges facing our patients. In addition, we work closely with patient families to better understand their wishes, talk directly with older children who want a say in their care, and adjust care plan accordingly.

Our research

In addition to our clinical work, the PIICT is also participating in several clinical trials investigating gene therapies. CHOP is one of the largest centers participating in the Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium to study the long-term outcomes after transplant and cellular therapy for children with rare primary immunodeficiencies.

Our team is also researching the best conditioning regimen for severe combined immunodeficiencies (SCID), as part of a clinical trial. We continue to work to develop other partnerships with hospital and organizations to be able to aid more children with these rare disorders through additional clinical trials.

Why choose us

CHOP's Immunology and Cellular Therapy teams are amongst the largest in North America. Our respective teams have been caring for patients with primary immune deficiency and cellular therapy recipients for more than 30 years.

In 2011, the Program for Integrated Immunodeficiency and Cellular Therapy was developed to create a long-term medical home for these children. Our team is small, but mighty, and backed by one of the nation's top pediatric hospitals according to U.S. News and World Report.