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Why I’m in a Clinical Trial

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The fact that I’m alive is a modern-day medical miracle. And I owe it to clinical trials.

In early 2011, I was in good physical shape, slightly overweight, eating healthy and exercising regularly. After I tolerated a nagging, slight cough for a few months without any relief from antibiotics, my doctor ordered a chest x-ray. Before I’d left the lab, she ordered a CT scan. Before I arrived home from the clinic, she called: the radiologist saw a mass in my lung. Two days later, a Friday, I saw a pulmonologist who performed a biopsy. He called me Tuesday evening, May 10, 2011, with the news: at age 55, as a never smoker, I had lung cancer.

Scans and tests over two weeks rendered a diagnosis of stage IIIA non-small-cell adenocarcinoma complicated by obstructive pneumonia. I was not a candidate for surgery, but the oncologist considered me curable. My tumor didn’t have either the EGFR or ALK mutations.  After ten days in the hospital and weeks of IV antibiotics, I recovered enough to get radiation therapy and low-dose chemotherapy, followed by one full dose of chemo (my side effects were too severe to allow me to have more chemo). I finished first-line treatment in early August 2011.

My post-treatment CT scan in late September 2011 showed the lymph nodes were almost completely clean, and the tumor had shrunk by over 90%. I thought I had a great chance at a cure. In the next two weeks, I underwent several tests to determine if I was healthy enough to have the lung removed. One of the tests was a PET scan, which found a hot spot on my right front collarbone. A few days, later two lymph nodes were removed in an open biopsy and found to be more of the same cancer. I was now stage IV–metastatic lung cancer. No lung surgery for me. The radiation oncologist advised waiting rather than radiating because I’d had a large volume of lung zapped already.  My oncologist also advised waiting a few months before starting a new chemo to give my body time to recover.

I decided to learn more about treatment options during those few months. From my participation in the Inspire.com Lung Cancer Support Community, I’d learned about the Lung Cancer Mutation Consortium Protocol clinical trial, which tested for ten mutations in lung cancer tumors. I had lots of slides courtesy of my two new tumors; testing for more mutations sounded hopeful, and I liked the idea of contributing in some small way to the science looking for a lung cancer cure. I searched for the trial on clinicaltrials.gov and emailed its contact person at the University of Colorado in Denver. I couldn’t travel to Denver (my pulmonologist thought my hollow tumor might cause a collapsed lung if I flew), but UC accepted me into the trial and tested my tissue anyway.  A few weeks later I received a call from the head of the trial, Dr. Paul Bunn: I had none of the ten mutations.

In two months, a visible 3-inch tumor grew by my right collarbone in the area where the lymph nodes had been removed. I had a CT scan the day after Christmas, met with my oncologist to discuss treatment, and had a power port installed. After six rounds of chemo over five months, CT and brain MRI scans showed all my original tumors were gone, no new tumors had appeared, and the collarbone tumor had shrunk over 90%. We decided to go for a possible cure with more radiation.  Six weeks later, my Sep 2012 PET-CT scan showed the original tumors were gone and the collarbone tumor was dead. However, I had two new nodules suspicious for cancer, this time in my right lung. Twice now I’d recurred within two months after finishing treatment. What to do next?

Someone on the Inspire.com forum suggested that because I was a young, healthy, never smoker with adenocarcinoma, I fit the profile of patients who had new mutation called ROS1. The poster was in a ROS1 clinical trial in Boston, but the trial was also at University of Colorado. I asked my oncologist about ROS1 testing, but he hadn’t heard of it (the research had been published just nine months earlier). While visiting family in Denver, I arranged to meet with Dr. Bunn and learned UC now tested for new mutations, including ROS1 and RET, and that my tumor had a 10-20% chance of having one of them.  I agreed to let UC test my remaining slides.

I had a biopsy a week later. The pulmonologist said he got a good sampling of the larger nodule but couldn’t find any cancer cells. We decided to wait a month and do another CT scan to see if either nodule grew. The very next day, an email from Dr. Bunn told me I tested positive for ROS1. UC had an opening in a clinical trial that involved a pill called Xalkori, which targeted cells having the ROS1 mutation.  Since I didn’t have a biopsy confirming cancer, Dr. Bunn offered to hold a trial slot for me pending results of my next scan.

My October 2012 chest CT showed the smaller nodule grew nearly 50% in one month. I called UC the next morning and started the process to apply for the ROS1 clinical trial. They agreed to consider me without a biopsy. I scrambled to collect all my medical files and scan CDs. Five days later I flew to Denver for two weeks, hoping I’d pass the screening and be accepted into the trial. I took my first Xalkori pill November 5, 2012.

For the next sixty days, I flew to Denver every two weeks, departing Seattle on Monday and returning home Wednesday. I had blood and urine tests every visit, along with other tests (like EKGs and eye exams), and a clinic visit at whichI met with the doctor to review test results and discuss symptoms. I then flew home with two weeks worth of pills. The first PET-CT scan on New Years Eve showed my two lung nodules were gone and no new hot spots—my first clean scan in 20 months of lung cancer. The side effects I experienced were far easier than either chemo had been. I had my life back.

After the first scan, my visits to UC shifted to every four weeks; after ten drug cycles, they shifted to every eight weeks. Now at UC visits I have blood work, a PET-CT scan, a visit with my UC oncologist Dr. Ross Camidge, and a brain MRI every six months. I have blood work done at my home clinic in off months.

I am not cured–the Xalkori only suppresses my cancer. However, Dr. Camidge has a plan for treating my recurrences.  It’s an odd existence, living from scan to scan. I’ll be in treatment for the rest of my days. Yet I’m hopeful that if/when each clinical trial stops working, a better one will be waiting for me.  Maybe they’ll find a cure for me before I die.

And in the meantime, I’m living.

The Basics of PD-1

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Several clinical trials for lung cancer (as well as other cancers) are pursuing therapies based on the PD-1 pathway of the immune system. These trials can usually be found on clinicaltrials.gov by searching with keywords such as PD-1, PDL-1, or PD-L1. Sometimes these therapies are referred to as anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1.

PD-1 (PD stands for Programmed Death) is part of an immune system “checkpoint” pathway that, among other functions, helps turn tumor suppression on or off. PD-1 is actually a protein expressed on the surface of certain cells in our immune system; it is NOT a mutation, but rather something inherent in everyone’s immune system. The cells of interest in these trials are activated T cells, but PD-1 is expressed on other types of cells, too. The PD-1 protein is a receptor, which means another molecule can bind to it.

PD-L1 is a protein of the surface of some (but not all) tumor cells. It is a ligand of PD-1 (hence the “L” in its name), which means it binds to the PD-1 protein. When PD-L1 binds to PD-1, it tells the immune system to ignore the tumor cells. PD-1 has one other known ligand (surprisingly named PDL-2).

PD-1 and PD-L1 therapies aim to blockade the PD-1 pathway so the immune system can better attack cancer tumors. The drugs used are designer molecules that bind to part of the PD-1 pathway and block its activity. Some drugs bind to PDL-1 so it can’t bind to PD-1. Other drugs bind to PD-1 to prevent ligands from binding to it. Both approaches aim for the same effect: keep the PD-1 pathway from telling the immune system to ignore tumor cells.

Not everyone responds to PD-1 pathway therapies. Early trial results show lung cancer patients had response rates on the order of 10% to 18%. Researchers are studying whether biomarkers — proteins such as PD-L1 on the surface of immune system or tumor cells — might indicate which patients will respond well to PD-1 therapies. That is why some trials (but not all) require a biopsy for testing before accepting the patient into the trial.

Since part of the immune response for suppressing tumors involves inflammation, participants in trials based on the PD-1 pathway often find their tumors will grow somewhat when they first start the therapy. A few lung cancer trial patients experienced serious or fatal pneumonitis, a lung inflammation.

PD-1 therapies are promising enough that at least four drug companies (Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche/Genentech, Medimmune and Merck) are pursuing them in lung cancer trials. Because they modify the immune system, the hope is that these drugs will continue working longer than targeted therapies do.

Please let me know if you find this sort of article helpful.

Edited 2013-09-12 12:53 PM PDT to add information.

Moves in the Cancer Endgame

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My dad taught me to play chess when I was small. I learned the game fast, and could soon beat other kids older than me. However, when I faced an opponent who was much more skilled than I, my attention eventually wandered. I lost the endgame because I’d lost patience.

A chess game transitions to the endgame when few pieces are left on the board. Whatever strategy positioned pieces prior to the endgame becomes irrelevant. The pawns, which initially were the least powerful pieces, become important.

Recently I was playing a much more highly-rated player online (thank you, Nancy Kress) and realized something in my attitude had changed: I had developed patience for the endgame. Even though I had been outmaneuvered and did not possess enough pieces to win, I kept looking for my next move. I wanted to keep the game going as long as possible.

Metastatic lung cancer is a tough opponent, and the odds favor it winning. Several powerful treatments didn’t finish it off. I haven’t many therapy pieces left. But I keep searching for my next move, even if it can’t give me victory. Clinical trials are now my best pieces in the cancer endgame. I want to keep playing — and living — as long as I can.

Cancer taught me patience for the endgame. Maybe someone else will learn from how I played.