One patient's experience: Connie Burnett-West

Dr. Roth, a leading researcher in tumor suppressor gene therapy for cancer, has focused his studies on the genetic events involved in lung carcinogenesis, with treatment that not only is proving successful, but has no side effects, as it treats only the cancer.

Mrs. Burnett-West, at the age of 54, received the devastating news that she had tumors in both lungs with little hope for recovery. She was not a candidate for surgery or radiation. She endured two trials using chemotherapy which she said almost killed her, and was then recommended to a gene therapy trial at Mary Crowley Medical Research Center at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. Using a gene suppressor treatment called GVAX, cancer cells were surgically removed from her lungs and used to create a vaccine. In 2000, she received six injections in six months and has been tumor free since then.

“Because of gene therapy I am standing here talking to you tonight,” said Burnett-West.

Burnett-West, whose mantra is to never give up, is now on the Institutional Review Board at Mary Crowley, helping other patients get the treatment they need. Dr. Roth is director of the W. M. Keck Center for Innovative Cancer Therapies at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Austin, which receives the most number of grants from the National Cancer Institute for their groundbreaking research. Dr. Roth was the principal investigator for the first tumor suppressor gene therapy clinical trial approved by the National Institutes of Health and the FDA, after evidencing feasibility and efficacy in laboratory research. Dr. Roth has also served as head of the Thoracic Oncology section of the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute.

Last year, an estimated 116,000 men and 99,000 women were diagnosed with lung cancer, the leading cause of death from cancer, and now the number one reason for fatalities among women. Few lung cancers are operable, and because of the lung’s critical role in body functions, metastasis is aggressive and the mortality rate is 75% - 85%.

Dr. Roth reported that most lung cancers can be attributed to smoking, although he said there is a strong genetic component, and that it is also one of the silent cancers as it is rarely detected until later stages. “One of the master genes we have found is the p53 gene, which can actually regulate life and death in a cell,” Dr. Roth explained to the audience. If the p53 gene is damaged, that cell will become damaged or mutated, which creates tumors. Dr. Roth’s treatment includes inserting the gene into a virus which, when injected back into the damaged cells, kills the cancer. He also has injected the gene directly into the tumor, which causes the tumor to shrink, and in addition, he continues to examine the creation of vaccines using the p53 gene and the patient’s own cells to generate an immune response. The use of this particular gene therapy in combination with traditional drug therapy, may also make treatment more effective.

Read more about ACGT Scientific Advisor, Dr. Jack Roth...