Advocate Aurora Health community cancer clinics in Wisconsin, as part of Advocate Aurora’s National Cancer Institute (NCI) Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), have joined a clinical trial studying an immunotherapy drug in addition to standard therapy for treatment of a group of lung cancers.
This study will evaluate the effects of adding monoclonal antibody drug atezolizumab to the usual regimen of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) when treating people with early stage, I-IIA, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
“Prior research has shown that treatment with atezolizumab can extend the life of some people with advanced stages of NSCLC,” said radiation oncology specialist Jeffrey Kittel, MD, Advocate Aurora Research Institute’s principal investigator for the study. “Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as atezolizumab, can help the body’s immune system attack cancer cells and has the potential to dramatically improve outcomes. This study is investigating whether adding immunotherapy to the standard regimen of high-dose, focused radiation used to treat cancers that are caught at early stages can increase the number of patients who are cured of their disease. It is combining the most sophisticated and effective radiation treatment with the most innovative medical treatment. It’s very exciting.”
NSCLC, which comprises adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and large cell carcinoma, accounts for about 80% to 85% of lung cancers, according to the American Cancer Society. Surgery to remove the cancerous cells in the tissues of the lungs is the standard treatment for NSCLC. However, many people with early stage NSCLC are ineligible for surgery due to other diseases or medical conditions. For those people, SBRT, a technique for delivering high doses of very focused radiation directly to tumors while sparing sensitive normal tissues, has emerged as the standard alternative and is a potentially curative treatment.
Atezolizumab works by acting as an “immune checkpoint inhibitor.” During normal functioning, immune checkpoint proteins help the body dampen the immune response, which prevents the immune system from damaging healthy cells. Cancer cells sometimes learn to use this mechanism to hide from the immune system. Atezolizumab inhibits immune checkpoint proteins on cancer cell surfaces, allowing the immune system to find and kill the cancer cells.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved atezolizumab’s use in treating patients with relapsed NSCLC. In this clinical trial, researchers are now studying its potential, in combination with traditional radiation therapy, to treat early stage NSCLC.
“Both lab research and clinical data suggest some synergy between radiation therapy and immunotherapy,” said Amit Acharya, PhD, chief research officer and system vice president for Advocate Aurora Health and the Research Institute. “Findings have shown that treatment effects were greater when some immunotherapy drugs were administered in combination with radiation than when they were given consecutively.”
The clinical trial will be conducted at all 17 of Advocate Aurora’s Wisconsin NCORP sites.
Researchers for the study aim to enroll 480 participants nationwide and will follow their progress for two years after study treatment.
The study, “Testing the addition of the drug atezolizumab to the usual radiation treatment for patients with early non-small cell lung cancer,” is sponsored by SWOG Cancer Research Network, a cooperative research group that designs and conducts clinical trials under the sponsorship of NCI.
To learn more about Advocate Aurora’s research, visit aurora.org/research.
About Advocate Aurora Research Institute
Advocate Aurora Research Institute is a not-for-profit, limited liability company of Advocate Aurora Health. Advocate Aurora has emerged as a national destination for patient-centered bench, translational and clinical research, and the Research Institute unifies the innovative research efforts throughout the health system. Advocate Aurora researchers focus on rapidly translating new discoveries from the scientist’s bench to the patient’s bedside and into the community we serve to improve options and outcomes that change not only the lives of individuals, but transform the health of populations.