Steven Rosenberg

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Steven Rosenberg
Nci-vol-7247-300 steven rosenberg.jpg
Born (1940-08-02) August 2, 1940 (age 83)
Alma mater Johns Hopkins University
Harvard University
Scientific career
Thesis The proteins of human erythrocyte membranes (1969)

Steven A. Rosenberg (born 2 August 1940 [1] ) is an American cancer researcher and surgeon, chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland and a Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences and the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He pioneered the development of immunotherapy that has resulted in the first effective immunotherapies and the development of gene therapy. He is the first researcher to successfully insert foreign genes into humans.

Contents

Early life

Rosenberg was born in 1940, in the Bronx, the youngest of three children of Jewish immigrants from Poland, [2] [1] who owned a luncheonette. He met his wife to be, Alice O’Connell during his residency at Boston’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, who was the chief nurse at the time. They got married in 1968 and have three daughters. [1]

Methodology

He is credited with developing the use of IL-2 and immune cells for the treatment of patients with melanoma in a procedure termed adoptive cell transfer. [3] He has shown that expanding immune cells (known as tumor infiltrating lymphocytes) in the lab can be used to treat patients with melanoma and has published two important studies describing their use. The first in 2002, demonstrated that some patients with advanced melanoma can be treated to complete remission with a combination of chemotherapy, immune cells and high doses of IL-2. [4] The second, in 2006, demonstrated that the receptor of T cells can be transferred to immune cells and in combination with chemotherapy and high doses of IL-2 can be used to treat patients with melanoma. [5] Although, this was the first time that the T cell receptor was used for gene therapy, it was not the first time that gene therapy was used in cancer. Tumor cells modified with a gene for immune growth factors such as GM-CSF, had been used many years previously and continue to be used, although the efficacy of GM-CSF modified tumor lines as a cancer vaccine remain extremely modest, at best. [6] There has been some debate as to the role of the T cells in treating the cancer in these studies as high-dose IL-2 and chemotherapy have also been shown to have anti-cancer properties. Nevertheless, the combination of chemotherapy, T cells and high-dose IL-2 was shown to be effective even in patients who had previously failed high-dose IL-2 treatment.

Rosenberg has pioneered the use of adoptive immunotherapy.

Education

Rosenberg graduated from the Bronx High School of Science. He received his B.A. (biology, 1961) and M.D. (1964) degrees from Johns Hopkins University. [1] He served a surgical internship and residency at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, completing it in 1974. During his residency he also earned a Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard University with thesis titled The proteins of human erythrocyte membranes (in 1968/1969). [1] Following the completion of his surgical residency, he became the Chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute, a position he continues to hold. [1] His research has focused on the immunotherapy of cancer.

Awards and honors

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interleukin 2</span> Mammalian protein found in Homo sapiens

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is an interleukin, a type of cytokine signaling molecule in the immune system. It is a 15.5–16 kDa protein that regulates the activities of white blood cells (leukocytes, often lymphocytes) that are responsible for immunity. IL-2 is part of the body's natural response to microbial infection, and in discriminating between foreign ("non-self") and "self". IL-2 mediates its effects by binding to IL-2 receptors, which are expressed by lymphocytes. The major sources of IL-2 are activated CD4+ T cells and activated CD8+ T cells. Put shortly the function of IL-2 is to stimulate the growth of helper, cytotoxic and regulatory T cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cancer immunotherapy</span> Artificial stimulation of the immune system to treat cancer

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cancer immunology</span> Study of the role of the immune system in cancer

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Chemoimmunotherapy is chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy. Chemotherapy uses different drugs to kill or slow the growth of cancer cells; immunotherapy uses treatments to stimulate or restore the ability of the immune system to fight cancer. A common chemoimmunotherapy regimen is CHOP combined with rituximab (CHOP-R) for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas.

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Autologous immune enhancement therapy (AIET) is a treatment method in which immune cells are taken out from the patient's body which are cultured and processed to activate them until their resistance to cancer is strengthened and then the cells are put back in the body. The cells, antibodies, and organs of the immune system work to protect and defend the body against not only tumor cells but also bacteria or viruses.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">James P. Allison</span> American immunologist and Nobel laureate (born 1948)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tumor antigens recognized by T lymphocytes</span>

T lymphocytes are cells of the immune system that attack and destroy virus-infected cells, tumor cells and cells from transplanted organs. This occurs because each T cell is endowed with a highly specific receptor that can bind to an antigen present at the surface of another cell. The T cell receptor binds to a complex formed by a surface protein named "MHC" and a small peptide of about 9 amino-acids, which is located in a groove of the MHC molecule. This peptide can originate from a protein that remains within the cell. Whereas each T cell recognizes a single antigen, collectively the T cells are endowed with a large diversity of receptors targeted at a wide variety of antigens. T cells originate in the thymus. There a process named central tolerance eliminates the T cells that have a receptor recognizing an antigen present on normal cells of the organism. This enables the T cells to eliminate cells with "foreign" or "abnormal" antigens without harming the normal cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michel Sadelain</span>

Michel Sadelain is an genetic engineer and cell therapist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, where he holds the Steve and Barbara Friedman Chair. He is the founding director of the Center for Cell Engineering and the head of the Gene Transfer and Gene Expression Laboratory. He is a member of the department of medicine at Memorial Hospital and of the immunology program at the Sloan Kettering Institute. He is best known for his major contributions to T cell engineering and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy, an immunotherapy based on the genetic engineering of a patient's own T cells to treat cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cellular adoptive immunotherapy</span> Cellular adoptive immunotherapy

Cellular adoptive immunotherapy is a type of immunotherapy. Immune cells such as T-cells are usually isolated from patients for expansion or engineering purposes and reinfused back into patients to fight diseases using their own immune system. A major application of cellular adoptive therapy is cancer treatment, as the immune system plays a vital role in the development and growth of cancer. The primary types of cellular adoptive immunotherapies are T cell therapies. Other therapies include CAR-T therapy, CAR-NK therapy, macrophage-based immunotherapy and dendritic cell therapy.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Steven A. Rosenberg Works to Unmask Cancer's Achilles Heel - the ASCO Post".
  2. ↑ Pollack, Andrew (August 1, 2016). "Setting the Body's 'Serial Killers' Loose on Cancer (Published 2016)". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Wrangle, JM; Patterson, A; Johnson, CB; Neitzke, DJ; Mehrotra, S; Denlinger, CE; Paulos, CM; Li, Z; Cole, DJ; Rubinstein, MP (February 2018). "IL-2 and Beyond in Cancer Immunotherapy". Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research. 38 (2): 45–68. doi:10.1089/jir.2017.0101. PMC   5815463 . PMID   29443657.
  4. ↑ Dudley ME, Wunderlich JR, Robbins PF, et al. (October 2002). "Cancer regression and autoimmunity in patients after clonal re-population with antitumor lymphocytes". Science . 298 (5594): 850–4. Bibcode:2002Sci...298..850D. doi:10.1126/science.1076514. PMC   1764179 . PMID   12242449.
  5. ↑ Morgan RA, Dudley ME, Wunderlich JR, et al. (October 2006). "Cancer regression in patients after transfer of genetically engineered lymphocytes". Science. 314 (5796): 126–9. Bibcode:2006Sci...314..126M. doi:10.1126/science.1129003. PMC   2267026 . PMID   16946036.
  6. ↑ Jaffee EM, Hruban RH, Biedrzycki B, et al. (January 2001). "Novel allogeneic granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor-secreting tumor vaccine for pancreatic cancer: a phase I trial of safety and immune activation". Journal of Clinical Oncology . 19 (1): 145–56. doi:10.1200/jco.2001.19.1.145. PMID   11134207.
  7. ↑ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  8. ↑ "Trailblazing Researchers in Immunotherapy Selected to Receive Americas Most Distinguished Prize in Medicine". www.amc.edu.
  9. ↑ "2019 Edogawa NICHE Prize Awarded to Dr. Steven Rosenberg for His Pioneering Feat in Tackling Cancer with Immunotherapy". www.marketscreener.com. 15 August 2019.
  10. ↑ "Pioneering Physician-Scientist to Receive 2019 Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research". National Foundation for Cancer Research . 12 February 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  11. ↑ Dan David Prize 2021
  12. ↑ "Citation Laureates 2023_Physiology or Medicine". Citation Laureates. Clarivate. Archived from the original on September 19, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  13. ↑ "NIH immunotherapy pioneer Steven Rosenberg awarded nation's highest honor for technology and innovation". National Institutes of Health (NIH). 2023-10-24. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
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