Your help is essential
More UNSTOPPABLE than ever
Many leukaemia patients run great risk of infection, such as causes COVID-19. The knowledge we have about blood cells and the immune system is of great usefulness in the fight against the pandemic.
That is why we have opened a new line of scientific research into COVID-19 and immunosuppression.
For everyone, because we are UNSTOPPABLE. Time is against us and your help is essential.
We are #moreUNSTOPPABLEthanever
Our challenge
In the present emergency situation caused by COVID-19, time is against us, so creating useful knowledge in the short term is a priority.
To continue saving lives we need to raise the maximum amount of funding possible. Your assistance is essential.
♥ THANK YOU ♥
655.840,97€
COVID-19 AND IMMUNOSUPPRESSION
Patients with leukaemia and other malignant blood diseases are experts when it comes to isolation and confinement.
Chemotherapy and the drugs used cause great changes to the immune system, leaving patients unprotected, and they have to spend a lot of time in isolation.
COVID-19 affects everybody, but especially those who are most prone to infection, amongst them more than 150,000 adults suffering from leukaemia and lymphomas... and more than 3,000 children.
The situation
Patients with leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and other malignant blood diseases have altered immune systems, something that can often last for years.
They are therefore extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 on account of their lack of defences against respiratory infection.
Although exhaustive studies still have not been conducted, the first studies carried out in China, the epicentre of the pandemic, indicate that there is an increased incidence in the severe consequences associated with COVID-19 in patients with cancer, particularly lung cancer, blood cancers and SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The impact of COVID-19 on patients with blood diseases can lead to delays in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, can disguise the infection as SARS-CoV-2, and complicate treatment for COVID-19 and/or the cancer itself due to the interaction of the drugs used.
All the scientific knowledge that has been gained from studying blood cancers and immunology is now extremely useful for confronting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our contribution
The Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute's mission is based on basic, translational and clinical research into leukaemia and other malignant blood diseases. It is the largest centre in Europe and the only one devoted EXCLUSIVELY to blood and diseases.
The institute of covers more than 10,000 m², has more than 30 research groups, the best teams and equipment, and can count on close cooperation with the main centres for the treatment of patients with blood diseases throughout the whole of Spain. We also work with our partners abroad and have very close relationships with universities and other research centres. Our reputation is based on more than 30 years' work by the Josep Carreras Foundation throughout the world.
All the information, knowledge and experience gained, through studies in the field of blood cancer, immunosuppression and the activation of patient's immune systems is of great importance in the fight against COVID-19.
For example, as a consequence of an exacerbated immune response, leukaemia and lymphoma patients treated with CAR-T immunotherapy can develop a serious clinical condition called cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and this can lead to pneumonia.
In such cases, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US has approved the use of an antibody (tocilizumab) has shown good results. Given that the symptoms of the pneumonia associated with COVID-19 are similar to those for which tocilizumab is used, the drug is presently being tried to control the pneumonia associated with coronavirus.
This is an example of how the knowledge gained through the study of malignant blood diseases can contribute to managing the severe and life-threatening symptoms of COVID-19.
Pilar is a leukaemia patient who was given a bone marrow transplant in April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are convinced that our knowledge about the mechanisms involved in the development of leukaemias, the cells in the immune system, (lymphocytes B and T), the alterations in the immune response, and the use of immunotherapies such as CAR-T, could provide key information in the research for strategies to confront COVID-19.
Our research
We are convinced that our knowledge about the mechanisms involved in the development of leukaemias, the cells in the immune system, (lymphocytes B and T), the alterations in the immune response, and the use of immunotherapies such as CAR-T, could provide key information in the research for strategies to confront COVID-19.
Research is based on two strategies:
Our team
Researchers at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute make up a multidisciplinary team led by Prof. Manel Esteller, a world-renowned cancer epigeneticist and considered to be one of Spain's most influential scientists.
>>> The aim of one of the initiatives is to identify genomic and epigenomic variants in order to evaluate susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection, and to assess the determining factors in order to understand how the disease evolves.
>>> Another aim is to develop a rapid test to detect SARS-CoV-2, based on nanocytometry.
It is proposed to analyse the reactivity of a series of candidate antibodies, with reference to scientific articles published over recent weeks on COVID-19.
Please give now
We can only continue to provide opportunities with your help. This pandemic affects us all and we have to get through it together. The situation is difficult, but we must join forces and act together. Now we are #moreUNSTOPPABLEthanever
Your personal information
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There are tax benefits to being UNSTOPPABLE in the fight against leukaemia.
You can recover up to 80% of your contribution by deducting it from your tax declaration.
For example, if you donate €180 per year (€15 per month) you deduct €144, so really you are giving €36 per year.
Create your own challenge
Have you thought of creating a virtual initiative or digital event to help us with this project? Then, THANKYOU, THANKYOU, and THANKYOU again, with capital letters!
Activities organised to support us don't just help us raise funds. They also help us raise awareness about our projects and our mission. They are IMPORTANT. It could be a fund-raising virtual dinner party, a challenge on social media, a contribution by a group of families, or a school...
Some people contact us with a very clear idea of the kind of event they would like to organise, while others are determined to make the effort to organise something, but are not quite sure just what. That's fine!
Whatever the case, please contact us: imagina@fcarreras.es - (+34) 93 414 55 66
A project by
2020 Fundació Josep Carreras contra la Leucèmia ©
Muntaner 383, 2on - 08021 Barcelona
info@fcarreras.es