Director, Genitourinary Malignancy Research, Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center in the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, Providence Health & Services
Medical Director, Biotherapy Program, Providence Cancer Center
Medical Oncologist, The Oregon Clinic
Research Interests
Brendan Curti, M.D., serves as medical director of Genitourinary Oncology Research and the Biotherapy Program at the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center. His clinical research focuses on the use of vaccine and cytokine-based immunotherapy to treat prostate carcinoma, renal cell carcinoma, bladder cancer, and melanoma. The Biotherapy Program for patients with melanoma and kidney cancer is one of the busiest in the country.
Dr. Curti earned his medical degree from Georgetown University, where he also completed a fellowship in medical oncology. Dr. Curti served as a senior investigator of the Clinical Research Branch of the Biological Response Modifiers Program at the National Cancer Institute. He was also an associate professor at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. In addition to his work at the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center, Dr. Curti is a medical oncologist at The Oregon Clinic.
Current Projects
Dr. Curti is actively developing new immunotherapy strategies in a variety of cancers. Examples of this work include:
Anti OX-40 Dr. Curti is the Principal Investigator for a National Institutes of Health-funded grant for a phase I clinical trial using anti-OX40 antibody. Anti-OX40 enhances T-cell memory and function. The Providence Cancer Center is the first research institute in the world to test anti-OX40 in clinical practice and began enrolling patients in March 2006. The trial is open to patients with advanced solid tumors (e.g. breast cancer, colon cancer, melanoma, prostate cancer) refractory to standard treatments. Immunological monitoring has started in conjunction with this clinical trial.
Interleukin-21 Another clinical research effort involves interleukin (IL)-21, a class I cytokine with sequence homology to the IL-2 cytokine superfamily. Preclinical murine models suggested strong antitumor activity of IL-21 in renal cell carcinoma, melanoma and other tumor models. A phase I clinical trial of IL-21 in humans with metastatic renal cell carcinoma or melanoma began in May 2004 in collaboration with researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Michigan. Clinical regressions were observed in renal cell carcinoma and melanoma. The first patient in the world to receive IL-21 was treated at Providence Portland Medical Center.
GVAX Another significant translational research project is the investigation of GVAX, an allogeneic GM-CSF transfected prostate cancer cell line vaccine. Phase I and II studies suggest a survival benefit in men with advanced prostate cancer who have received GVAX. The Genitourinary Research Program is enrolling patients on two phase III studies comparing GVAX with docetaxel chemotherapy. A phase I study developed at Earle A. Chiles Research Institute (EACRI) looked at GVAX with cyclophosphamide and fludarabine chemotherapy, and was recently completed. The rationale for the phase I study was developed by Drs. Bernard Fox and Hong-Ming Hu at EACRI. Their preclinical animal models showed enhanced vaccine responses during homeostatic expansion of lymphocytes after chemotherapy. This concept had not been previously tested in humans. The immunological monitoring done thus far supports that other measures to influence regulatory T cells are needed in humans to achieve effective vaccine responses. Another pilot study using GVAX lymphopenia-inducing chemotherapy and anti-CD4 antibody is expected to open in the latter part of 2007.
Exploiting lymphopenia and depletion of CD25+ regulatory T cells to augment effective immunotherapy (Prostate Cancer Foundation – PI: Bernard Fox). www.prostatecancerfoundation.org
Clinical:
Walter Urba, MD, PhD – Director of Cancer Research, Providence Portland Medical Center
