Clinical Trials at Memorial Cancer Institute Deliver Hope to Cancer Patients

For more than a decade, cancer has been Judith Hetlage’s constant companion, always present and threatening. What began with a diagnosis of synovial sarcoma, a rare tumor in the connective tissue of joints, ultimately resulted in cancer cells spreading to her lungs.

“I felt like that was the death sentence,” she said.

But a fortunate thing happened on the way to what Hetlage thought would be her demise. Memorial Cancer Institute began an innovative clinical trial for TCR-T (T-cell Receptor Therapy), an immunotherapy that harvests a patient’s T-cells, genetically modifies them to recognize a specific protein within cancer cells, and infuses the cells back into the person’s immune system to search and destroy the diseased cells. While a similar approach has been successfully utilized at Memorial through its collaboration with the Moffitt Malignant Hematology and Cellular Therapy program for the treatment of blood cancers, it had never before been used on a solid tumor.

“Additionally, Judith’s specific cancer hadn’t initially been included in the trial, but HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) testing indicated she had the type of white blood cells that would enable the immune system to recognize specific protein receptors within her tumor,” said Atif Hussein, MD, Hetlage’s oncologist and director of Memorial’s Hematology & Oncology Fellowship program. “We introduced the HLA type and the antigen in the modified T-cell, which then was able to recognize the cancer cells as something foreign to the body that should be killed.”

Hetlage, a mother to three daughters, was infused with what Dr. Hussein calls “super immune cells” and then received a second dose less than two weeks later to empower an immune system that had been depleted and emptied of bone marrow before the treatment. The process, called lymph depletion therapy, allows the supercells to find a home to reside in the immune system.

“Cell therapies are the next wave of cancer treatment and offer options when more traditional approaches stop working,” said Hugo Fernandez, MD, chair and medical director of the Moffitt Malignant Hematology & Cellular Therapy Program at Memorial Healthcare System. “Markers on cancer cells, even in rare cases, allow us to hit the disease where it lives, something established programs at Memorial are ready to do as new research is conducted.”

Hetlage, an animal welfare advocate, is optimistic about her future and says she feels uplifted by the Memorial team. The Fort Lauderdale resident is also thankful that innovative, world-class care is available close to home, since previous treatment regimens required her to uproot her family to seek care in Boston.

“Research now being done here uses innovation and technology to push the standard of care for our patients,” said Brian Pico, MD, a hematologist-oncologist at Memorial Cancer Institute and the principal investigator on the TCR-T study. “In some cases, it provides them options that aren’t available elsewhere.”

To learn more about TCR-T for solid tumors or any of the nearly 80 clinical trials offered at Memorial, call 954-265-1847.