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Research Matters

Developments in cancer research

Groundbreaking research trains immune system to kill skin cancer cells

Cells Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center has become one of the first institutions selected by the National Cancer Institute to offer a skin cancer clinical trial that trains a patient’s immune system to kill cancer cells. The Young Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte (Y-TIL) trial involves patients with stage-four metastatic melanoma. Blood and a sample of the tumor are drawn from the patient, and the T cells, the immune system’s killer cells, are extracted from the tumor and re-educated to attack the cancer cells. The patient’s normal immune system is temporarily suppressed with chemotherapy and the newly trained T cells are returned to the patient. The T cells are expected to survive, replicate and kill the cancer. John Hanson, M.D.; Jonathon Treisman, M.D.; Nina Garlie, Ph.D., and Martin Oaks, Ph.D., the Immunology and Immunotherapy Research Team, are responsible for this groundbreaking research. Patients are actively being recruited.

Affiliation sought with prestigious Community Clinical Oncology Program

Aurora Health Care is seeking to become a member of the Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP), a national network for community medical practitioners conducting cancer prevention and clinical trials. Created in 1983 by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the CCOP network allows patients and physicians to participate in state-of-the-art, NCI-sponsored clinical trials for cancer prevention and treatment in their local communities. CCOP also provides funding for research. There are only 50 CCOPs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Leading the way on the proposal is Dhimant Patel, M.D., as principal investigator, along with associate principal investigators Peter Johnson, M.D., and Judy Tjoe, M.D. Since joining Aurora in 2006, Dr. Patel has been among the top 25 percent of physicians enrolling participants into NCI-approved trials. He helped develop the current cancer clinical trial infrastructure at Aurora and was instrumental in establishing standards for quality monitoring in breast and lung cancer trials. In applying for membership to the CCOP, Aurora noted its commitment to enhancing and growing cancer care through the hiring of Joseph Mirro, M.D., as vice president for cancer services for the entire system, in March 2009, and Randall Lambrecht, Ph.D., as vice president for research and academic relations, in fall of 2008. The grant development team at Aurora, headed by Director Gina Graham, is involved in this effort.

Lombardi Clinic gets cancer research certificate of excellence

The Aurora Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic in Sheboygan recently received a National Cancer Institute Certificate of Excellence for reaching the milestone of enrolling 50 patients as part of the Cancer Trials Support Unit Independent Clinical Research Site program. The clinic also ranked fifth in the nation on total enrollment of patients in clinical trials, with a total of 52. The team includes Santosh Kumar, M.D.; Craig Schulz, M.D.; Max Haid, and nurses Debbie Gray and Mary Theodoroff.