(File Photo of the Allegheny Health Network Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Cancer Center is actively enrolling patients in a first-in-human clinical trial that tests an innovative cell therapy for advanced cancers which have spread to the lining around the lungs, and that is a condition which is known as malignant pleural effusion. 

Pleural effusion describes fluid buildup in the pleural cavity, which is the space around the lungs.

Malignant pleural effusion is the abnormal buildup of fluid and cancer cells in that space and it is most often associated with advanced lung and breast cancers, even though it can occur with other cancers. 

The fluid can cause chest discomfort, shortness of breath and a significant decline in quality of life.

Current treatments focus mainly on controlling fluid buildup and easing symptoms, rather than directly treating cancer in the pleural space. 

The Phase 1 clinical trial is known as RIOT-4 or Regional Immuno-Oncology Trial 4, repurposes the fluid drained from the chest cavity of cancer patients as a source of tumor-fighting immune cells, and this offers a faster and less invasive path to cellular immunotherapy.  

The lead clinical investigator for this trial is Patrick L. Wagner, MD, MPH, the vice chair of surgery and chief of surgical oncology at AHN Cancer Center.

Researchers in the cellular therapy lab at AHN, who are directed by Albert D. Donnenberg, PhD, the vice chair of clinical research, rapidly grow and activate the cells before returning them directly to the pleural cavity of the patient, which is where the cancer is located.