Durham Man With Stage 4 Lung Cancer Sees Promising Results from NIH-Funded Trial At Duke

(WNCN, Maggie Newland) — A Durham man with stage four lung cancer credits a Duke clinical trial for giving him his life back. The trial is funded by the National Institutes of Health and based on research also funded by the NIH.

The federal agency funds tens of billions of dollars of research yearly, but with cuts impacting the health agency, doctors across the country are concerned that future medical research could be at risk.

Alfonzo Grafton is looking toward the future. “I’m very hopeful,” he said.

He hasn’t always felt so optimistic, though. Nearly two years ago, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. His initial treatment didn’t work, and the cancer spread.

“It was discouraging because I said, ‘Oh, Lord. My time is coming to an end. I mean, it’s like you got stage 4. You can’t get no worse, so where do I go from here?”

Grafton ended up in a clinical trial at Duke with Dr. Eziafa Oduah, a medical oncologist.

“What I’m trying to do is really to overcome immunotherapy resistance. Immunotherapy resistance is a huge problem for many lung cancer patients,” Dr. Oduah explained.

Research, also conducted at Duke, found that a certain protein, called PCSK9, can decrease an immune cell’s ability to kill cancer cells, thereby making immune therapy ineffective in many patients.

The current trial looks at combining immunotherapy with a monoclonal antibody that inhibits that particular protein to see if tumors have a better response. The NIH provided funding for both the initial research and the trial.

In some patients, including Grafton, it is showing promise.

“He’s been on this treatment now for — coming close to — two years now,” noted Oduah.

That’s pretty significant given his initial prognosis.

“They gave me two years to live. Most people just don’t live past two years,” Grafton said. “I’m about to come up on that two years. I’m good.”

Doctors hope to do more research based on their findings.

“Since we have these results, some of the preliminary results that we are seeing, we’re actually hoping to have this trial open to a broader population of patients,” Oduah explained.

But doctors aren’t sure what impact federal cuts may have on NIH-funded research.

We are designing other studies that will require NIH funding based on the results that we have seen, and so that is where I see that we might have potential problems and limitations, if we do not have enough funding,” she added. “NIH funds both basic and clinical research and so it is really core to what we do as physicians and to patients’ ability to get to get the best care.”

Dr. Oduah  hopes that future studies can benefit more patients. Grafton does too. He wants others to feel the same sense of hope that he now has.