What to expect when your child comes to St. Jude for immunodeficiency disease treatment
St. Jude treats children with primary immunodeficiencies such as:
Your child’s diagnosis may have come after a newborn screening test or after several infections that were hard to treat. St. Jude doctors will conduct tests to learn all they can about your child’s disease. They will also use this information to help determine treatment.
Your child’s care team may include an immunologist and a bone marrow transplant doctor. Your medical team may also include:
- Nurses
- Social workers
- Child Life specialists
- Pharmacists
- Dietitians
- Genetic counselors
When your child arrives at St. Jude, a doctor will meet with you to answer your questions and discuss a treatment plan.
Your doctor may recommend a bone marrow transplant or another treatment, such as gene therapy.
Bone marrow transplant
A bone marrow transplant may be an option if your child has a sibling or parent who can serve as a donor.
Because immune cells do not work correctly in children with immunodeficiency disorders, a transplant helps replace the patient’s immune cells with healthy ones from a donor. Healthy blood cells from a donor are infused into the patient. A bone marrow transplant can result in a cure.
Patients with SCID and Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome are often treated with bone marrow transplants.
Learn about the Transplant Program at St. Jude.
Gene therapy
Your doctor may suggest a treatment called gene therapy. This type of therapy corrects a defective gene with a healthy version.
St. Jude has been a pioneer in developing gene therapy treatments. We produce the gene therapy materials at a special manufacturing plant on campus.
St. Jude researchers are conducting a gene therapy clinical trial for patients who have X-linked SCID and do not have matched sibling donors. Results from the clinical trial show that patients treated with combination gene therapy are cured with no immediate side effects.
More Information
St. Jude offers educational information for patients and families. These include details on the following topics: