A cancer success story
Immunotherapy’s promise is boosted by UPMC
The success in using a type of immunotherapy to treat metastatic breast cancer in a Florida woman portends hope for many other cancer patients, and it hints at the types of lifesaving breakthroughs that could be possible at a new immunotherapy center planned for Pittsburgh.
The 49-year-old woman appears to be cancer-free more than three years after doctors at the Marylandbased National Cancer Institute identified some of her immune cells that seemed able to fight the cancer, multiplied them and infused them into her. The experimental procedure and findings — “complete regression” of Judy Perkins’ cancer— were published last week in the journal Nature Medicine.
Ms. Perkins joined a clinical trial after other treatments failed to help her. Doctors identified genetic mutations in her cancer, found immune cells that recognized one or more of those mutations and turned them into what the Los Angeles Times called “an army of nearly 100 billion identical cells” primed for battle. One infusion of those cells was all Ms. Perkins’ needed.
Similar treatments have shown to help patients with other types of cancer. “All cancers have mutations, and that’s what we’re attacking with this immunotherapy,” the institute quoted the trial’s lead researcher, Steven A. Rosenberg, as saying. “It is ironic that the very mutations that cause the cancer may prove to be the best targets to treat the cancer.”
It’s the kind of exciting development that could be forthcoming at the site of a former Ford plant and showroom in Bloomfield.
In February, Pitt and UPMC announced plans to found the UPMC Immune Transplant and Therapy Center at 5000 Baum Blvd. At the time, they said the goals of the $200 million venture are to develop novel ways to deploy the immune system against an array of diseases and speed them to the patient.
Researchers here already are exploring ways to eliminate transplant patients’ need for immunosuppressant drugs. The center’s other initial focuses will be on cancer, chronic diseases and those associated with the aging process.
Besides the humanitarian factor, the initiative is expected to draw more researchers here, create thousands of jobs, improve the synergy between laboratory and marketplace, and expand the city’s eds and meds economy.
Ms. Perkins said she had all but lost hope but figured her participation in the trial at least could “help the next generation.” Immunotherapy holds the promise of delivering effective treatments much faster than that.