Andrew Pecora

Andrew Louis Pecora (born 1957) is an American hematologist and oncologist who has been involved in the research on the use of stem cells and oncolytic viruses to treat diseases, including cancer.[1] He currently serves as chief innovations officer, professor and vice president of cancer services at the John Theurer Cancer Center, part of the Hackensack University Medical Center.

Andrew Pecora

M.D.
Born
Andrew Louis Pecora

1957 (age 63–64)
Newark, New Jersey
NationalityAmerican
Education
OccupationChairman, Professor
Medical career
ProfessionPhysician, Hospital administrator
FieldHematology, Oncology
Institutions

Early life and education

Pecora was born in 1957 in Newark, New Jersey. He was raised in nearby Nutley and graduated from Nutley High School.[2] Pecora attended Seton Hall University, graduating in 1979 with Bachelor of Science in Biology. He then attended the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), graduating with a medical degree in 1983. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine's sub-specialties of hematology and oncology.[3]

Medical career

Pecora interned at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center from 1983 to 1984 and was a resident in internal medicine from 1984 to 1986.[3]

From 1986 to 1989, he began a fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He then moved to Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) to become assistant director of stem cell and bone marrow transplantation from 1990 to 1993. He went on to become the program's chief director and the director of stem cell collection and storage services.[3][4][5] Pecora has later served as the John Theurer Cancer Center's chairman, chief innovations officer, and vice president during his career at the hospital.[6][7]

In 1995, Hackensack was part of a large clinical study sponsored by National Cancer Institute to study the use of bone marrow transplantation to treat women with advanced breast cancer. He expressed his misgivings about only offering the procedure as part of the study as there was a chance the patients would be chosen to be a part of the control group. He instead offered direct access to the popular new procedure as an alternative to participation in the trial, allowing the patients to choose. The procedure was later proven ineffective.[4][8]

In 1998, Pecora started a version of the problem-based learning program at UMDNJ. An adaptation of earlier programs that allows medical students to fulfill their early basic science course requirements by examining the actual case studies.[9]

That same year, Pecora was the lead author on the study of CD34+CD33− cells as it relates to chemotherapy treatment and bone marrow transplantation for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).[10] Pecora et al. discovered that patients who had received more than two cycles of chemotherapy and were shown to have "chemotherapy-resistant NHL mobilized a significantly lower percentage of CD34+CD33− cells than did chemotherapy-sensitive NHL patients." They also found the reverse that those who had received less significant levels of chemotherapy treatment had higher levels of CD34+CD33− cells.[1]

In 2002, Pecora was an investigator in a study of PV701, a virus that selectively attacks cancer cells.[11][12] In the Phases 1 clinical trial, they found that intravenous administration of the oncolytic viruses led to inflammation of the tumor site that made it difficult to immediately determine effectiveness of the treatment. This false appearance of increase in cancer cells was confirmed by a later trial of the same oncolytic virus and also in Onyx 015, an oncolytic adenovirus.[12][13] In describing the report authored by Pecora, Emily Bergsland and Alan Venook editorialized that

This report of 79 patients is lengthy and complicated, but by necessity rather than by choice. Whether or not this agent proves effective against cancer, this phase I trial merits careful study, because viral therapies for cancer are emerging, and their optimal development is a major challenge.[14]

The study concludes that PV701 could be tested relatively safely and offers dosing guidelines to mitigate side effects.[15][16] However, the study raised more questions, moving "the field forward, even if very slowly."[17]

In 2009, The Record named Pecora among Hackensack's administration with conflicts-of-interest, as they had ownership interests in companies with business dealings with the hospital.[18] In 2011, Pecora founded Cota Healthcare, a company to develop a classification system based on patient's "gender, age, family history, type and stage of disease, and treatments."[19][20]

Notable publications
  • Pecora, Andrew; et al. (1998). "CD34+CD33- cells influence days to engraftment and transfusion requirements in autologous blood stem-cell recipients". Journal of Clinical Oncology. 16 (6): 2093–2104. doi:10.1200/jco.1998.16.6.2093. PMID 9626209.
  • Pecora, Andrew; et al. (April 1, 2000). "Prompt and durable engraftment in two older adult patients with high risk chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) using ex vivo expanded and unmanipulated unrelated umbilical cord blood". Bone Marrow Transplantation. 25 (7): 797–799. doi:10.1038/sj.bmt.1702222. PMID 10745268.
  • Goldberg, Stuart; Pecora, Andrew; et al. (February 1, 2002). "Unusual viral infections (progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy and cytomegalovirus disease) after high-dose chemotherapy with autologous blood stem cell rescue and peritransplantation rituximab". Blood. 99 (4): 1486–1488. doi:10.1182/blood.V99.4.1486. PMID 11830505. S2CID 7028301.
  • Pecora, Andrew; et al. (May 1, 2002). "Phase I Trial of Intravenous Administration of PV701, an Oncolytic Virus, in Patients With Advanced Solid Cancers". Journal of Clinical Oncology. 20 (9): 2251–2266. doi:10.1200/jco.2002.08.042. PMID 11980996.
  • van Besien, Koen; Pecora, Andrew; et al. (November 15, 2003). "Comparison of autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for follicular lymphoma". Blood. 102 (10): 3521–3529. doi:10.1182/blood-2003-04-1205. PMID 12893748. S2CID 9234114.
  • Lorence, Robert; Pecora, Andrew; et al. (December 1, 2003). "Overview of phase I studies of intravenous administration of PV701, an oncolytic virus". Current Opinion in Molecular Therapeutics. 5 (6): 618–624. PMID 14755888.

References
  1. Siena et al. (2000), p. 1369
  2. 2005 Hall of Fame Inductee, Andrew L. Pecora, Nutley Hall of Fame. Accessed November 9, 2019. "Born and raised in Nutley, Dr. Pecora, a Nutley High School graduate, earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and was graduated Magna Cum Laude from Seton Hall University in 1979."
  3. Who's Who in America. Marquis Who's Who, LLC. October 1, 2004. ISBN 9780837969824.
  4. Kolata, Gina (February 15, 1995). "Women Resist Trials to Test Marrow Transplants". The New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  5. Alvarez, Manny (January 1, 2011). "Can Stem Cells Help Dick Cheney?". Fox News. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  6. Washburn, Lindy (October 25, 2010). "New ally for war on cancer". The Record. Retrieved March 28, 2017 – via NorthJersey.com.
  7. Williams, Barbara (June 12, 2011). "Cancer center offers spiritual oasis". The Seattle Times. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  8. Rettig, Richard A.; et al. (January 25, 2007). False Hope: Bone Marrow Transplantation for Breast Cancer. Oxford University Press. pp. 222–223. ISBN 9780199748242.
  9. Racine, Marty (September 10, 2002). "Teens making the grade in medical school". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  10. Pecora et al. (1998)
  11. Pecora et al. (2002)
  12. Lorence & Pecora et al. (2003)
  13. Bell et al. (2003)
  14. Bergsland & Venook (2002), p. 2220: "The article by Pecora et al, in this issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology reports a complicated phase I trial of PV701, one of many viruses being developed to treat cancer.
  15. Ahmad & Kratzke (2016), p. 6
  16. Aghi & Martuza (2005), p. 7808
  17. Bergsland & Venook (2002), p. 2221
  18. Layton, Mary Jo; Washburn, Lindy (November 20, 2009). "Hackensack University Medical Center's board adopts policies designed to clean up conflicts of interest". The Record. Retrieved March 28, 2017 – via NorthJersey.com.
  19. "About Us". Cota Healthcare. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  20. Layton, Mary Jo (July 1, 2016). "Programs aim to improve cancer treatment at a lower cost". The Record. Retrieved March 31, 2017 – via NorthJersey.com.

Sources
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