Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy (Saint John's Cancer Institute)

Autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy is an adoptive cell transfer (ACT) approach developed and studied at Saint John's Cancer Institute (formerly John Wayne Cancer Institute) for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. The therapeutic process involves the surgical resection of a patient's tumor, from which naturally occurring tumor-reactive T cells are harvested and expanded to billions ex vivo. Following a non-myeloablative lymphodepleting chemotherapy regimen consisting of cyclophosphamide and fludarabine, the expanded TILs are re-infused into the patient. This infusion is typically followed by high-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2) administration to promote the in vivo survival, proliferation, and anti-tumor activity of the transferred lymphocytes. This personalized biologic therapy aims to leverage the patient's own immune system to recognize and eliminate melanoma cells through a polyclonal T-cell response against diverse tumor-associated antigens.

Other names

Autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytesTumor-reactive autologous tumor infiltrating lymphocytesTIL therapyJWCI TIL therapy