Steven Rosenberg

Chief of the Surgery Branch at the National Cancer Institute since 1974 — still operating and still running trials. Father of cancer immunotherapy. Lifetime Achievement lecture at Session V.

Career Arc

• Pioneered high-dose IL-2 — first FDA-approved cancer immunotherapy (renal cancer 1992, melanoma 1998)
• First human gene transfer (May 22, 1989) — a tracking marker in T cells
• Pioneered TIL therapy for melanoma: 56% response, 25% durable CR (>10 years in 46/48 complete responders)
• First patient to achieve cancer regression after CAR-T — CR ongoing past 14 years
• Licensed CAR-T technology → Kite Pharma → Gilead ($11.9B acquisition)

• 1,200 papers; National Medal of Technology and Innovation (2023)

• Mentor lineage: Sadelain, June, Arie Belldegrun (Kite) all trace through the Surgery Branch

Current Work: Neoantigen-Targeted Cell Therapy

• Targeting mutations in solid epithelial cancers (90% of cancer deaths)
• Three approaches: selected TIL, TCR transduction, shared-mutation TCR libraries (KRAS, p53)
• Recent results: ~24% RECIST response rate in chemorefractory pancreatic/colorectal/cholangiocarcinoma
• 2014 cholangiocarcinoma patient: disease-free 12 years; 2018 breast cancer patient: disease-free >10 years

Stated Goal (Unchanged Since 1980)

“Eliminate the last cancer cell.”