Maria Pascale was diagnosed with an advanced-stage cancer and tried all of the conventional treatment options. When she began cellular therapy treatment at Rutgers Cancer Institute and RWJBarnabas Health, she received life-changing news.

By Cecilia Levine From Daily Voice

Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey is reporting major progress in the fight against advanced HPV-related cancers, with new cell therapies showing complete tumor regression (and even decade-long remission) in patients who had no options left.

The findings were presented by Dr. Christian Hinrichs at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer meeting in National Harbor, MD, earlier this month.

The first study tested engineered T cells, which target an HPV oncoprotein in patients with metastatic cancers usually considered incurable. Six out of 10 patients saw major tumor shrinkage, including two who remain in complete remission nearly a year later, RWJ Barnabas reports.

“Metastatic HPV-associated cancers remain difficult to treat,” Dr. Hinrichs said. “We found that E7-directed T cells can induce meaningful, and sometimes complete, responses in patients with limited options.”

Rutgers manufactured the personalized cell therapies on-site using specialized Good Manufacturing Practices facilities.

One patient, Maria Pascale, of Philadelphia, said she wasn't going to live to see 50.

Her cancer journey began eight years ago. She went through chemotherapy and radiation, which worked for about two and a half years before the cancer metastasized to her lungs.

By the time she came to RWJ, Pascale had advanced-stage cancer that had already been treated with multiple aggressive options — but the disease kept progressing. She endured “three very painful surgeries,” she said in a video produced by RWJBarnabas Health, sitting beside her sister, Maria Durante.

“I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t eat, it was really a bad time,” she said.

Her CT and PET scans showed her largest nodules weren’t changing despite everything doctors had tried.

Dr. Hinrichs said these new treatments are designed specifically for patients with no other options left. They are customized using the patient’s own cells — a “living treatment” that stays inside the body and continues fighting cancer.

RWJ Barnabas Health/Rutgers Cancer Institute

Maria’s response to the treatment was dramatic, Hinrichs said. Her scan showed "no evidence of malignancy," which her sister called "the magic words."

“This treatment and Maria is a starting point in this therapy and this type of therapy,” Dr. Hinrichs said. “This is an ongoing war that’s going to require sustained effort… here we have the will to fight it, but what we need is sustained support to continue it.”

Maria says Rutgers Cancer Institute gave her something she never expected: her life back.

A second study showed two women with metastatic cervical cancer remain in complete remission 10 years after receiving a single infusion of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy, marking the strongest evidence yet that cell therapy can cure certain epithelial cancers.

“These studies indicate that one-time cell therapies can achieve durable responses in epithelial cancers,” Dr. Hinrichs said. “The decade-long complete responses to TIL therapy give hope that these patients may be cured.”

RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute were named to Becker’s 2025 “100 Hospitals and Health Systems with Great Oncology Programs” list for the third straight year.

Click here to read more about RWJ Barnabas/Rutgers Cancer Institute's clinical trials.