Steven Rosenberg

Overview
Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., (b. 2 August 1940) is a leading cancer researcher and surgeon. He is credited with developing the use of IL-2 and immune cells for the treatment of patients with melanoma. He has also shown that expanding immune cells 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 of chemotherapy, immune cells and high doses of IL-2. The second, in 2006, demonstrated that the receptor of T 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. 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 as GM-CSF, had been used many years previously and continue to be used as an effective form of gene therapy and immunotherapy for cancer. 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.

Education
Rosenberg received his B.A. (biology, 1960) and M.D. (1963) degrees from The Johns Hopkins University. He served a surgical internship at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, completing it in 1974, and then earned a Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard University. He then completed his surgical residency and became Chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute. His research has focused on immunotherapy of cancer.