Stage IVA cervical cancer; drawing and inset show cancer that has spread from the cervix to the bladder and rectal wall.
Image source: NCI Visuals Online; Creator Terese Winslow
Women 18 and older with previously untreated advanced cervical cancer may be eligible to participate in a clinical trial at the NIH Clinical Center.
Cervical cancer occurs in the cells of the cervix, the lower part of the uterus that connects to the vagina. Many cervical cancers result from chronic infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection. Christian S. Hinrichs, M.D., Senior Investigator in the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch, is leading a study of a treatment called induction immunotherapy that uses the patient’s own T cells (immune cells) to attack their cancer cells. Induction immunotherapy is given before any other type of treatment because it is most active in previously untreated patients. In a process called leukapheresis, blood is removed through a small tube inserted into a vein in the arm. A machine removes T cells and returns the rest of the blood through a tube inserted in the other arm. In a laboratory, the T cells are genetically modified to recognize and attack a protein called E7 that is expressed on HPV-positive cancer cells but not on healthy cells. These modified T cells are then infused into the patient. Researchers want to see if this therapy can be safely given to women with HPV-positive cervical cancer before they get standard treatments.
Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT04476251
NCI Protocol ID: NCI-20-C-0116
Official Title: A Pilot Study of E7 TCR T Cell Induction Immunotherapy for Stage IIB-IVA Cervical Cancer
The Center for Cancer Research is NCI’s internal cancer center, a publicly funded organization working to improve the lives of cancer patients by solving important, challenging and neglected problems in cancer research and patient care. Highly trained physician-scientists develop and carry out clinical trials to create the medicines of tomorrow treating patients at the world’s largest dedicated research hospital on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
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