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Steven Rosenberg | |
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| Born | (1940-08-02)August 2, 1940 (age 84) |
| Alma mater | Johns Hopkins University Harvard University |
| Scientific career | |
| Thesis | The proteins of humanerythrocyte membranes (1969) |
Steven A. Rosenberg (born 2 August 1940[1]) is an Americancancer researcher andsurgeon, chief of Surgery at theNational Cancer Institute inBethesda, Maryland and aProfessor ofSurgery at theUniformed Services University of Health Sciences and theGeorge Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He pioneered the development ofimmunotherapy that has resulted in the first effective immunotherapies and the development ofgene therapy. He is the first researcher to successfully insert foreign genes intohumans.
Rosenberg was born in 1940, in theBronx, the youngest of three children of Jewish immigrants fromPoland,[2][1] who owned aluncheonette. He met his wife to be, Alice O’Connell during hisresidency at Boston’sPeter Bent Brigham Hospital, who was the chief nurse at the time. They got married in 1968 and have three daughters.[1]
He is credited with developing the use ofIL-2 and immune cells for the treatment of patients withmelanoma in a procedure termedadoptive cell transfer.[3] He has shown that expanding immune cells (known as tumor infiltrating lymphocytes) in the lab can be used to treat patients with melanoma and has published two important studies describing their use. The first in 2002, demonstrated that some patients with advanced melanoma can be treated to complete remission with a combination ofchemotherapy, immune cells and high doses of IL-2.[4] The second, in 2006, demonstrated that the receptor ofT cells can be transferred to immune cells and in combination with chemotherapy and high doses of IL-2 can be used to treat patients with melanoma.[5] Although, this was the first time that the T cell receptor was used for gene therapy, it was not the first time that gene therapy was used in cancer. Tumor cells modified with a gene for immune growth factors such asGM-CSF, had been used many years previously and continue to be used, although the efficacy of GM-CSF modified tumor lines as a cancer vaccine remain extremely modest, at best.[6] There has been some debate as to the role of the T cells in treating the cancer in these studies as high-dose IL-2 and chemotherapy have also been shown to have anti-cancer properties. Nevertheless, the combination of chemotherapy, T cells and high-dose IL-2 was shown to be effective even in patients who had previously failed high-dose IL-2 treatment.
Rosenberg has pioneered the use of adoptiveimmunotherapy.
Rosenberg graduated from the Bronx High School of Science. He received hisB.A. (biology, 1961) andM.D. (1964) degrees fromJohns Hopkins University.[1] He served a surgical internship andresidency at thePeter Bent Brigham Hospital, completing it in 1974. During his residency he also earned aPh.D. inbiophysics fromHarvard University withthesis titledThe proteins of humanerythrocytemembranes (in 1968/1969).[1] Following the completion of his surgical residency, he became the Chief ofSurgery at theNational Cancer Institute, a position he continues to hold.[1] His research has focused on theimmunotherapy of cancer.
