Breakthrough, Life-Saving Cancer Treatment, TIL Therapy, Offers New Hope to Patients with Metastatic Melanoma
Source: PR Newswire, January 2025
WASHINGTON, Jan. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is the first hospital in the Washington metropolitan area to offer Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte therapy, or TIL therapy, to treat metastatic melanoma. This is the first tumor-derived T-cell immunotherapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for patients with the condition.
Also called tumor-derived autologous T-cell immunotherapy, this groundbreaking therapy leverages a patient’s immune system to fight advanced melanoma, offering hope to patients who would have otherwise had no other effective treatment options.
TIL therapy is a patient-specific therapy derived from an active melanoma tumor that is removed by a surgeon. In the laboratory, the tumor is processed to extract and expand a special type of white blood cells called T-lymphocytes. They are grown in cell culture with interleukin-2 and other stimulating factors to help them expand into billions of cancer-fighting immune cells. This process primes the T-lymphocytes to target and destroy cancer cells. The T-lymphocytes, along with other medications, are then infused back into the patient as a one-time treatment course.