Scott Joseph Antonia, MD
Dr. Scott Antonia is a recognized leader in the research and clinical application of immunotherapy for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer. He practices at the Duke Cancer Institute (DCI), is a member of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, and is the Director of the DCI Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, which aims to enhance the institute’s ability to develop and test novel immunotherapeutic approaches. Dr. Antonia is also a professor of Medical Oncology and a part of the DCI Thoracic Oncology disease group.[1]
Education and Career
Dr. Antonia earned both his Ph.D. and his medical degree at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, then completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Immunobiology there as well.[1]
After completing his medical education and training, Dr. Antonio joined the H.Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, where he served as chairman of the Department of Thoracic Oncology and built a lung cancer clinical research program where he was the principal investigator for the ground-breaking Pacific study, which established anti-PDL1 as a new global standard of care for the treatment of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. He also served on the Administrative Core of the U54-funded academic partnership between the Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico and the Moffitt Cancer Center and was the principal investigator for a multi-institutional grant funded by the Stand Up to Cancer organization.[2]
Research
Dr. Antonia is recognized internationally as a leader in the development of immunotherapy treatments for lung cancer. He directs the Center for Cancer Immunotherapy at Duke Cancer Institute. His research focus is on discovering immunotherapy protocols that show promise in any cancer type. His earlier research and role as global principal investigator led to a shift in the standard of care for stage III non-small-cell lung cancer, establishing anti-PDL1 as consolidative therapy after being combined with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. He was also the lead investigator of clinical trials that established the clinical activity of immunotherapy for small cell lung cancer, resulting in the inclusion of this modality in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s treatment guidelines.[2]
Dr. Antonio is the beneficiary of multiple grants, including:[1]
- Novel roles of PCSK9 in regulating the tumor immune microenvironment during radiotherapy awarded by National Institutes of Health 2022 – 2027
- Duke Center for Advancement of Child Health (CAtCH). awarded by the National Institutes of Health 2021 – 2026
- Nektar PROPEL awarded by Nektar Therapeutics 2020 – 2025
- Phase Ib Study of MEM-288 Oncolytic Virus in Combination with Nivolumab in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) awarded by Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation 2023 – 2025
- Investigating the Role of a Novel Dendritic Cell Subset within Sentinel Lymph Node Tissues in Immune Evasion and Melanomagenesis awarded by the Department of Defense 2021 – 2024
- Clinical Biomarker Study of the Tumor NLRP3 Inflammasome and its Role in Anti-PD-1 Immunotherapy Resistance awarded by Conquer Cancer Foundation 2021 – 2024
- Anti-PD1 in combination with an inhibitor of PCSK9 to increase MHC class I molecule expression on tumor cells as immunotherapy for NSCLC awarded by Department of Defense 2021 – 2024
- Discovering Novel Tumor-Reactive Antibodies in Pembrolizumab-Treated NSCLC awarded by Lung Cancer Initiative of North Carolina 2023 – 2023
- Eco-Evolutionary dynamics of NSCLC to immunotherapy: Response and Resistance awarded by H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute 2019 – 2023
- Use of an oncolytic adenovirus to promote anti-tumor T-cell responses in ovarian cancer awarded by Foundation for Women’s Cancer 2022 – 2023
His publications include:
- Scherpereel, Arnaud, Scott Antonia, Yolanda Bautista, Francesco Grossi, Dariusz Kowalski, Gérard Zalcman, Anna K. Nowak, et al. “First-line nivolumab plus ipilimumab versus chemotherapy for the treatment of unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma: patient-reported outcomes in CheckMate 743.” Lung Cancer 167 (May 2022): 8–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lungcan.2022.03.012.
- Antonia, Scott J., Hossein Borghaei, Suresh S. Ramalingam, Leora Horn, Javier De Castro Carpeño, Adam Pluzanski, Marco A. Burgio, et al. “Four-year survival with nivolumab in patients with previously treated advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a pooled analysis.” Lancet Oncol 20, no. 10 (October 2019): 1395–1408. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(19)30407-3.
- Antonia, Scott J. “Durvalumab after Chemoradiotherapy in Stage III Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer. Reply.” N Engl J Med 380, no. 10 (March 7, 2019): 990. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc1900407.
