Can your own tumor help fight cancer?

For individuals living with advanced melanoma, the right cancer treatment method may actually come from within.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy (TIL) is a form of immunotherapy that uses the body’s immune system to fight against cancer cells. Clinicians remove part of a patient’s tumor and analyze the tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes within it. These white blood cells entered the tumor to attack and destroy cancer cells. The removed lymphocytes that respond most effectively to cancer are then duplicated in a lab setting and placed back in the body via inpatient infusion to boost the immune system’s response to cancer.

“TIL therapy is essentially a personalized cancer treatment method, as we use a person’s own cells to target their cancer,” explains Dr. Nikolaos Dallas, a surgical oncologist at Advocate Health Care. “It can be a highly effective treatment method for cancers that are difficult to treat, when we are unable to remove the tumor or the cancer has spread in the body, as well as when other treatment methods are not working.”

Who benefits from TIL therapy

TIL therapy is most appropriate for the treatment of solid-tumor cancers such as melanoma. A patient may be eligible to receive the therapy if their tumor is large enough for biopsy and if they are healthy enough to undergo chemotherapy prior to the infusion.

“Before we move forward with TIL therapy, we typically give patients chemotherapy to lower the number of immune cells in their body,” Dr. Dallas says. “That way, the immune system is more likely to accept the TILs we are infusing into the body to fight the cancer.”

After the infusion(s), a patient is discharged from the hospital once they are symptom free and their immune system is functioning normally. Clinicians will continue to monitor the patient through regular appointments to watch for signs of infection and determine if the cancer is responding to the therapy.

“A major benefit of TIL therapy is that patients undergo the treatment only one time,” Dr. Dallas says. “This fact, in addition to its efficacy at treating advanced cancers, has made TIL therapy a promising option for many, and we are excited for its uses to expand to the treatment of other cancers.”

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