Former world-class hammer thrower battles diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)
Sep 28, 2018
In August of 2013, eight months into his volunteer deployment in Afghanistan, Michael Mai noticed a small lump between his neck and shoulder. The former world-class hammer thrower initially brushed it off as nothing but was later diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Mai came to NIH and received treatment from Mark Roschewski, M.D., Clinical Director of the Lymphoid Malignancies Branch, that ultimately cleared him of the disease. Read more...
Prostate cancer journey leads to immunotherapy
Aug 1, 2018
A 14-year battle with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer led Tom to the doors of the NIH Clinical Center. A combination immunotherapy clinical trial led by James Gulley, M.D., Ph.D., turned the tide in his fight and led to a passion for advising prostate cancer patients. Read more...
Steve Rosenberg featured in CBS News story profiling an immunotherapy clinical trial patient
Jun 11, 2018
When standard treatment failed to eliminate her late-stage breast cancer, Judy Perkins turned to a clinical trial led by Steven Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the Surgery Branch at the Center for Cancer Research. The trial uses a novel immunotherapy approach of multiplying specific cancer-fighting cells and injecting them into a patient’s bloodstream to kill the cancer. In a recent interview with CBS News’ Jonathan LaPook, Perkins — who remains cancer free more than two years later — shares her clinical trial experience. Read more...
Fighting a rare central nervous system tumor with research and optimism
Jun 1, 2018
In January 2016, Sarah Rosenfeld had such severe pain shooting down her legs she couldn’t walk, sleep or care for her young daughters. After weeks of physical therapy for what she thought was sciatica, she had an MRI. Thirty-seven-year-old Rosenfeld learned she had something far worse: myxopapillary ependymoma, a rare cancerous tumor in her spinal cord. She came to the NIH for treatment options and enrolled in a clinical trial with Mark Gilbert, M.D., Chief of the Neuro-Oncology Branch at the Center for Cancer Research. Read more...
A physician faces her own ovarian cancer
Apr 23, 2018
Drs. Tracie Miller and Steve Lipshultz have spent their careers caring for pediatric patients and conducting research at well-known medical institutions across the country. In some ways, those years of providing patient care and conducting medical research prepared the couple for Tracie’s ovarian cancer diagnosis, and in other ways, it didn’t. Read more...
CCR clinical trial patients featured in AFP article
Mar 28, 2018
A clinical trial at the National Cancer Institute led by Christian Hinrichs, M.D., Investigator in the Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch, offered the first evidence in support of immunotherapy as an effective treatment for cervical cancer. In a recent article, Agence France Presse highlights the journeys of Sue Scott and Arrica Wallace, two women on the trial for whom the experimental cancer treatment worked. Read the full article…
Defeating a rare, aggressive form of skin cancer with avelumab
Mar 23, 2018
For the one-year anniversary of the FDA’s approval of avelumab, CCR Communications caught up with Richard Mulcahy to share his success story as a clinical trial patient. Mulcahy was diagnosed with Merkel cell carcinoma in September of 2016. It’s been over a year since he received his first treatment of avelumab as part of a clinical trial led by Isaac Brownell, M.D., Ph.D., formerly an Investigator in the Dermatology Branch, at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda. Read more...
First bone marrow transplant for rare gene mutation made possible through CCR clinical trial
Mar 12, 2018
Because of a rare mutation to the NFKB1 gene, Avery’s immune system is unable to fight off commonly occurring bacteria, and she is at risk of developing life-threatening infections. Bone marrow transplants are the only potential cure for immune deficiencies like Avery’s. As part of a clinical trial at the Center for Cancer Research with Jennifer Kanakry, M.D., Staff Clinician in the Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch, she received a bone marrow transplant from cells donated by her father. Read Avery’s story…
Former clinical trial patient featured on CBS This Morning
Mar 8, 2018
Dr. Jon LaPook, Chief Medical Correspondent at CBS News, recently featured Michael Becker during a segment on CBS This Morning. Becker, who is a former patient of James Gulley, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch, is fighting head and neck cancer caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). He previously participated in a clinical trial at CCR and has made it his personal mission to spread the word about the HPV vaccine. Watch the segment here…
Clinical trial helps pediatric patient build healthy immune system
Mar 6, 2018
When medication failed to cure Dhruv’s skin infections, doctors in India discovered he was born with a compromised immune system. Dhruv eventually traveled to the National Institutes of Health where he was diagnosed with Dock8 deficiency, a rare genetic mutation leaving him prone to serious infections and certain cancers. Through a clinical trial at the Center for Cancer Research with Nirali Shah, M.D., M.H.Sc., Associate Research Physician in the Pediatric Oncology Branch, Dhruv received a bone marrow transplant that helped him rebuild a healthy immune system. Read his story…