4 minute read
ADVANCING CANCER TREATMENT
ADVANCING
CANCER TREATMENT
The Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute is at the forefront of personalized immunotherapy treatment and research
BY SETH SOFFIAN
No two people are the same, so no two cancers are the same. At the esteemed Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute, led by world-renowned oncologist Dr. Eduardo M. Sotomayor, a heavy emphasis on personalized cancer treatment includes taking advantage of the important progress in the growing field and the application of immunotherapy, which holds out more than just great promise in oncology.
Born decades ago from an elegantly simple idea—to use the body’s immune system rather than foreign substances to fight cancer— immunotherapy has achieved extraordinary results with some cancers, even those in advanced stages.
“It’s been a game changer,” said Dr. Abraham B. Schwarzberg, senior vice president and chief of Oncology and Network Development at Tampa General Hospital, recognized in the top 10 percent in the nation for cancer care by U.S. News & World Report for 2021-22. “It’s allowed the body to fight the cancer as if it’s an infection. We have patients now where their cancers basically melt away, and very often, if it works the way it’s supposed to, they can have the cancer either not come back for years or not come back at all. It’s completely changed the conversation.”
Immunotherapy, a broad term that includes a range of treatments at the cellular level, is hardly a magic cure-all. Its success rates vary with different types of cancers. And revving up the body’s powerful immune response—through treatments delivered intravenously, orally, topically, or in other customary fashions—can have significant side effects as well. It is not yet as widely used as surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy, according to the National Cancer
Dr. Abraham B. Schwarzberg
Dr. Eduardo M. Sotomayor
Institute. But Schwarzberg is among those who have seen its benefits firsthand. He was only 12 when Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg, a pioneer in the development of immunotherapies and now chief of the surgical branch at the National Cancer Institute, treated Schwarzberg’s grandmother with immunotherapy, causing her advanced kidney cancer to go into remission.
“If you can get either your body or [immunotherapy] treatments to very specifically target tumors and allow your body to recognize the tumor in a way that it’s foreign or looks foreign, you’ll be able to fight off that cancer just like you fight off a pneumonia,” said Schwarzberg, who went on to study with Rosenberg. “That principle makes a ton of sense. And it’s really hard to do.”
Schwarzberg points to extraordinary turnarounds in the treatment of melanoma. Where options once were negligible when it came to treating those with advanced stages of the skin cancer—as low as around 5 percent, he said— patients with advanced melanoma receiving immunotherapy today have favorable outcomes as high as 75 percent.
One case at TGH involved injections into about 30 “little pebbles” of melanoma on a patient’s arm that were too small to be removed surgically. “It basically generates such a robust immune reaction that the immune system then targets those little pebbles,” said Schwarzberg, who has been recognized by Harvard Medical School and Tufts University with Excellence in Teaching Awards. “It can come and wipe out the cancer.”
TGH is constructing a Phase I clinical trial unit that may open in early 2022. This follows the recent acquisition of the Palm Beach County–based Cancer Center of South Florida, which Schwarzberg founded in 2008, to expand services on both Florida coasts. These moves are part of TGH’s commitment to providing patients the very best in integrated, highly personalized cancer care.
A diagnostic protocol that includes a molecular analysis of a patient’s suitability for immunotherapy or participation in a clinical trial “allows us to keep pushing the treatments to be more effective,” said Schwarzberg. Best of all, these cutting-edge treatments are close to home. “All of these things make a big difference. It’s part of being integrated into an ecosystem that has that skill set, knowledge base, and infrastructure. In cancer care, you need a lot of infrastructure to take care of a patient. Cancer patients have a lot that they deal with. I’m really proud to be part of a wonderful team. It takes all of us collaborating together.”
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