Yale Cancer Center Research Team Benefits from Tobacco Master Settlement Funds
For Immediate Release
Date: 4/13/05
Contact : Renee Gaudette (203) 785-2143
New Haven, Conn. - Researchers at Yale Cancer Center working on an innovative treatment for Non-small Cell Lung Cancer have received one of two grants from the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Resulting from Tobacco Master Settlement Funds, the state funding was allocated for biomedical research projects in the fields of heart disease, cancer, and other tobacco-related illnesses.
The proposed project will establish a phase I clinical trial using a combination of Transimmunization and external beam radiation therapy for the treatment of stage IV and IIIb Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). Transimmunization is a form of cancer immunotherapy that includes an overnight co-incubation period, which has been found to more efficiently induce malignant T cell death using antigen presenting dendritic cells. These dendritic cells are capable of stimulating anti-cancer immune responses when reintroduced to the patient.
Lynn Wilson, MD, MPH, Associate Professor and Clinical Director, Department of Therapeutic Radiology, is the principle investigator for the phase I trial. “The award from the Connecticut Department of Public Health for this novel clinical trial will provide the opportunity to rapidly investigate the safety of a new modality in patients with NSCLC. Transimmunization was developed at Yale and we are on the leading edge of this type of investigation,” Dr. Wilson said.
Currently the treatment for NSCLC is relatively ineffective; fewer than 15% of patients diagnosed with NSCLC are cured. While many patients receive second- and third-line chemotherapy treatment for NSCLC, the number that substantially benefit is low. The American Cancer Society estimates that 2,000 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in Connecticut this year and that 1,850 men and women will die of lung cancer; it is the leading cause of death from cancer in Connecticut.
“This phase I safety evaluation study will be the first step toward learning more about the effects of Transimmunization in combination with radiation therapy and offers a unique immunotherapy based approach for lung cancer patients with advanced disease who meet enrollment criteria,” Dr. Wilson explained.
In addition to Dr. Wilson, the research team at Yale Cancer Center studying treatment of NSCLC using Transimmunization includes, Michael Girardi, MD, Lynn Tanoue, MD, John Murren, MD, Carole Berger, PhD, Harriet Kluger, MD, Peter Barrett, MD, Kacie Thompson, PA-C. For more information on the phase I trial, please contact Kacie Thompson at 203.785.7432.
Established in 1974, Yale Cancer Center was one of the first university-based comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute. Today, it is one of a select network of only 39 in the United States, and the only one in Southern New England. Appointments can be made in the Yale-New Haven Lung Cancer Center by calling 203.688.LUNG.