EMPOWERING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

By Sylvia Wrobel n Medical Illustrations by Michael Konomos

A decade ago, there were few effective treatment options for patients with advanced melanoma or lung cancer. That’s changing, thanks to new immunotherapy drugs which can unleash a patient’s own immune system. An Emory scientist’s groundbreaking discoveries pointed the way to the new therapies, and Winship clinical investigators have been involved in clinical trials of almost every immunotherapy drug approved by the FDA. While patients benefit from an increasingly wider range of treatment options, Winship clinical and laboratory investigators take on the challenge of making these therapies even more effective.

Lung Cancer

In 2014, Danny Foshee experienced a sudden onset of extreme chest pain. He thought it was his heart, but a CT scan identified abnormal spots on his right lung. Biopsy results showed non-small cell lung cancer. His local oncologist ordered a PET scan and tumors lit up like Christmas tree lights. The largest was the size of a baseball. With cancer too advanced for surgery, a clinical trial was recommended. Soon after, Foshee met with Suresh Ramalingam, Winship deputy director and director of medical oncology, and

Rathi Pillai, the medical oncologist who would become Foshee’s primary Winship physician. After reviewing his case in detail, they asked Foshee if he would like to be considered for a clinical trial under way at Winship that compared the effectiveness of traditional chemotherapy— which directly attacks cancer cells but also other fast-growing cells in the body, such as hair follicles—and a new immunotherapy treatment designed to strengthen the immune system’s ability to recognize and fight cancer cells.