An important advance in cancer treatment has been announced by the Cleveland Clinic Oncology Institute, with the development of Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocyte (TIL) Therapy. This innovative treatment is aimed at patients with metastatic or unresectable melanoma. According to the Medical Director of the Melanoma Program at the institute, Thach-Giao Truong, this method utilizes the patient's immune cells that have previously been in contact with the tumor, eliminating the need to 'teach' the cells to recognize and attack cancer, thus increasing the precision and efficacy of the treatment.
The TIL therapy process begins with the surgical extraction of a melanoma tumor of certain dimensions, allowing for a more specific immune response against the cancer. Currently, this therapy is only approved in the United States, with the Cleveland Clinic being one of the authorized centers to carry it out. This approach uses the patient's own immune cells extracted directly from the tumor, promising to combat cancer more effectively and precisely.
This innovative treatment with lifileucel has recently been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), representing a milestone in oncology as the first method of its kind approved for solid tumors. Dr. Thach-Giao Truong emphasizes that TIL therapy offers new hope for patients with advanced-stage melanoma, overcoming the limitations of traditional immunotherapy by reducing the risks of adverse effects and increasing the precision of treatment.
Dr. Truong highlights that the tumor infiltrating immune cells (TIL) are cultured in the laboratory to create a personalized infusion, which is infused back into the patient after undergoing lymphodepleting chemotherapy to prepare their body. This promising approach seeks to revolutionize the treatment of cancer, especially melanoma, which is aggressive and difficult to treat in advanced stages. TIL therapy has shown an overall response rate of 31.5% in patients with metastatic or unresectable melanoma who did not respond to previous treatments.
Although immune checkpoint inhibitors have been a significant advancement in melanoma treatment, TIL therapy presents as a promising approach that overcomes some limitations of conventional immunotherapy. Dr. Thach-Giao Truong noted that the side effects are usually mild and mainly related to prior chemotherapy, including fatigue, fever, and edema. The Cleveland Clinic Oncology Institute not only leads the administration of TIL therapy but is also at the forefront of research in this field, seeking to expand its use to other types of cancer in the future.