The Haematology and Haemotherapy Department of Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro has more than 35 years of experience in carrying out research work in different fields of Clinical and Technical Haematology, in many cases related to improving the outcomes of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), and has extensive experience and a recognised basic-clinical character. It is backed by the results of more than 1000 HSCTs in adult patients, more than 50% of which correspond to allogeneic HSCTs from family and unrelated donors. Of the latter, 120 are umbilical cord blood transplants (UCBT), a form of HSCT in which the HUPHM Haematology Department has been and continues to be a pioneer in Spain, with different approaches developed in national and international research projects that have culminated in the “dual transplant” model.

As for the group's milestones and initiatives, the results of the “dual transplant” or “Haplocord” are leading to its use spreading nationally and internationally (Liu H et al. Blood 2011).
At present, the Department has a staff of eleven specialist physicians and six researchers coordinated by Dr R. Cabrera. In the Cryobiology, Cultures and Cell Therapy Laboratory, improvements are made and developed in cell processing techniques for HSCT, including: collection and cryopreservation of progenitors (bone marrow (BM), peripheral blood (PB), umbilical cord blood (UCB)), cell expansion and cultures, and in vitro treatments (positive/negative selection). Since 2005, a GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) laboratory or clean room has been available, where work focuses mainly on generating mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow, in whose clinical use in HSCT they are also pioneers at national level (Gonzalo-Daganzo R, et al. Cytotherapy. 2009). Since 2010, work has also been carried out on Regenerative Therapy for bone pathologies in two European projects under the 7th Framework Programme and Horizon 2020, funded by the European Commission following a highly competitive selection process.

In the field related to transplantation, the Department has experience in Cell Therapy procedures (lymphocytes, NK cells and dendritic cells), adoptive anti-CMV immunotherapy and active antitumour immunotherapies using tumour antigens as immunogens, established through numerous collaborations with top-level national and international centres (European projects EUROCORD and AlloStem under the 4th and 5th Framework Programmes of the European Commission).

In the 1990s, an idiotype vaccination project for low-grade B-cell lymphomas was launched, which proved effective in treatment during the pre-Rituximab era, undoubtedly constituting a national milestone.
Estas líneas de investigación y sus investigadores han sido objeto de numeroso premios nacionales e internacionales.

In recent years, a project has been launched to treat blood disorders requiring allogeneic transplantation using a cell source of umbilical cord blood homozygous for the CCR5 delta 32 mutation, which makes it possible to cure patients infected with HIV.

The immune reconstitution of this dual transplant or “Haplocord” model has been studied, and a research project is now about to be launched for the sequential quantification of TRECs and KRECs in recipients of allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

The Department is part of the IBMTR (International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry), the EBMT group (European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation), of which Dr R Duarte is Secretary, and the GETH (Grupo Español de Trasplantes Hematopoyéticos y Terapia Celular), PETHEMA (Programa para el Estudio de la Terapéutica en Hemopatía Maligna) and GEL-TAMO (Grupo Español de Linfomas) groups, and the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT), of which Dr R Gonzalo is a member of the European Committee (Legal and Regulatory).