In recognition and support of his longtime research on treating melanoma, University of Colorado Department of Surgery faculty member Martin McCarter, MD, has been named the inaugural chairholder of the newly established Gary, Debbie, and Brandon Mandelbaum Endowed Chair in Melanoma Research. The donors’ wishes are for the chairholder’s teaching and work to be focused on melanoma research.
“This chair position is especially valuable, because it allows me more time to focus on education and research,” says McCarter, professor of surgical oncology. “As clinicians, we spend a great deal of time on clinical work taking care of patients, which is rewarding, but it takes away from being able to develop new treatments and new ideas. Having the ability to spend more time focused on research is a tremendous privilege for me.”
Focus on TILs
Also surgical director of the Esophageal and Gastric Multidisciplinary Clinic at the CU Cancer Center, McCarter has been part of the CU Department of Surgery since 2001. His current area of research interest for treating melanoma is tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), a treatment that uses a patient’s own immune cells to fight the cancer.
“At the University of Colorado, we were one of the highest enrollers in the clinical trials that led to the approval, in 2024, of TIL therapy as a commercial product for very advanced stage melanoma,” he says. “Now I'm interested in a deeper investigation of these TILs and trying to understand how we can get them to work even better.”
TIL therapy works by removing immune cells, such as T cells, from a cancer patient’s tumor, growing them in massive numbers in a petri dish, then reinfusing them back into the patient.
“The idea is that by overwhelming the tumor with these huge numbers of lymphocytes, you can induce a better immune response,” McCarter says. “The tumor microenvironment is generally considered very immunosuppressive, meaning it’s hard to mount an effective immune response. This is one way to overcome that immune-suppressed environment — just overwhelming it with sheer numbers.”
As a surgeon, McCarter assists in the TIL therapy process by removing sections of tumor from which the cells are collected before being sent to the lab to be reproduced.
“We have to collect enough of these cells from the tumor to grow them in the lab,” he says. “Outside of TIL therapy, we generally don't go removing big chunks of tumor, because, to date, it really hasn't helped patients to play whack-a-mole, if you will — to just keep cutting this stuff out. We still need more effective therapies than just surgery alone.”
Sense of gratitude
Though McCarter didn’t work directly with the Mandelbaums during the time one of their family members was undergoing cancer treatment, he says he is grateful for their support and their willingness to help others being treated for the same type of cancer.
“It's incredibly rewarding to have patients and patients’ families who are motivated and able to give back to the mission of improving therapy for other patients,” he says. “In the Mandelbaums’ case, the patient had an excellent response to treatment. Her melanoma responded to a combination of different treatments, including surgery, and she went on to live a productive life. What the family is hoping with the chair donation is to benefit other people by continuing the momentum that we have developed here in melanoma research.
“I am extremely grateful for this opportunity, and grateful to the Mandelbaums,” he continues. “I’m also appreciative to all my colleagues who have been very supportive of me all along. This endowed chair position is a reflection of all that support, and I look forward to getting back to work on finding new treatments for melanoma.”
