Experimental Therapy Cures Patient’s Skin Cancer

Patient "No. Four," a man with melanoma, was taking part in an experimental melanoma treatment program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. After receiving an infusion of his own fortified immune system T-cells, the melanoma—which had already spread to a lung and to a lymph node in his groin and had not responded to other therapies—went into complete remission.

Research published in the June 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine say this is the first time a patient's cloned T-cells used alone have put an advanced solid-tumor cancer into complete remission.

The man was followed for two years, at which time he was still in remission. Doctors lost track of him after that.

"No way would we say this is a cure but he had a complete response and, fortunately, for him, it lasted longer than just a few months or weeks," says the study’s senior author Cassian Yee, an associate member at Hutchinson's clinical research division.

Immunotherapy, which uses a patient's own immune system to fight cancer, is an emerging art and science. The method holds the promise of being much less toxic than other treatments, though recent research has pointed out that it may not be as safe as once hoped.

"I don't think this represents any standard of care, but I view it as shining a light on the direction in which we perhaps should be heading," says Louis M. Weiner, director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C. "It's giving us some insights into what the necessary conditions are for an anti-cancer immune response to be effective."

Research shows several instances when a patient's own immune system kicked in to cure a cancer even without help from sophisticated new technologies. Vijay Trisal, assistant professor of surgical oncology at City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif., recounted two such cases:

• a woman whose melanoma had spread to her lungs, brain and other parts of her body, was stung by a bee and subsequently recovered not only from the bee sting but also from the cancer; and
• a man with advanced melanoma who stepped into a poison ivy patch and experienced a similar recovery.

Similar happenings have been recorded for other types of cancer.