Sep 27, 2021
Steve Rosenberg is the Chief of
Surgery at the National Cancer Institute, a position he has held
continuously for the past 47 years. Steve is a pioneer in the field
of immunotherapies for cancer and a recipient of nearly every major
award in science. In this episode, Steve discusses his inspiration
for devoting his career to cancer research and describes his keen
observation of two cases of spontaneous cancer remission, driving
him to learn how to harness the immune system to treat cancer.
Steve’s personal story essentially serves as a roadmap for the
field of immunotherapy, from the very non-specific therapies such
as interleukin-2, the discovery of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes,
checkpoint inhibitors, CAR T-cells, and adoptive cell therapy.
Perhaps most importantly, Steve expresses his optimism for what
lies ahead, especially in the face of some of the more recent
discoveries with respect to tumor antigenicity. Finally, Steve
discusses the human side of cancer which helps him to never lose
sight of why he chose to become a physician.
We
discuss:
- Steve’s childhood and inspiration
to become a physician and medical researcher
[3:15];
- Patients that influenced Steve’s
thinking about cancer and altered the course of his career
[13:15];
- The discovery of antigen
presentation, Steve’s first job, and why he knew he wanted to study
cancer [19:30];
- Cancer treatment in the early
1970’s and Steve’s intuition to utilize lymphocytes
[26:45];
- Cancer cells versus non-cancer
cells, and why metastatic cancer is so deadly
[31:45];
- The problem with chemotherapy and
promise of immunotherapy [38:30];
- How the immune system works and
why it seems to allow cancer to proliferate
[43:15];
- Steve discovers how to use
interleukin-2 to mediate cancer regression
[52:00];
- The immunogenic nature of certain
cancers and the role of mutations in cancer
[1:03:45];
- The improbable story of how CAR T
cell therapy was developed [1:16:30];
- The
discovery of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) and engineering
of T cells to recognize specific antigens
[1:28:00];
- Steve’s experience treating
President Ronald Reagan’s colon cancer
[1:36:00];
- Why Steve has turned down many
tempting job offers to focus on his research at the National Cancer
Institute [1:41:00];
- The role of checkpoint inhibitors
in cancer therapy and the promise of adoptive cell therapy
[1:43:00];
- Optimism for using immunotherapy
to cure all cancers [1:48:00];
- The human side of cancer and the
important lessons Peter learned from working with Steve [1:52:15];
and
- More
Learn more: https://peterattiamd.com/
Show notes page for this episode: https://peterattiamd.com/StevenRosenberg
Subscribe to receive exclusive subscriber-only content: https://peterattiamd.com/subscribe/
Sign up to receive Peter's email newsletter: https://peterattiamd.com/newsletter/
Connect with Peter on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.