A Philadelphia based company, Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc. is working on new T-cell therapy to treat advanced metastatic cancers. The new immunotherapy uses specific lymphocytes from the patient’s immune system called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.
TIL or Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes are the first immune system cells to fight against cancer. The lymphocytes try to attack and stop the spreading tumor in the early stages of cancer. After recognizing the presence of cancer, these lymphocytes move from the blood and attack tumors by infiltrating inside cancer.
However, the defense against tumor through TILs does not remain for too long, as fast-maturing cancer learn to evade recognition by these lymphocytes. With speedy maturation, the tumor cells take control over the patient’s immune system by releasing the anti-inflammatory factors which repress the anti-tumor activity of the immune system.
In this project, the researchers are working on the processing of these highly beneficial TILs. This study targets the new TIL processing on patients with solid tumors. These include metastatic, advanced, and unresected tumors in solid organs. This means that the positive results of these clinical trials will be beneficial for more than 90% of the cancer patients.
In the Iovance TIL technology, the goal is to amplify the production of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes by billion times. For this, researchers extract these lymphocytes from the tumor and grow these cells in the lab. After extensive multiplication of these lymphocytes, the researchers infuse these cells back into the patients through Lifileucel.
Clinical trials are underway to check the efficiency and safety of this new immunotherapy referred to as Lifileucel. The research started on this project on May 7, 2019. And Iovance Biotherapeutics has recently published a set of striking initial results on August 26, 2019.
TIL Immunotherapy is Different from CAR-T Cell therapy
In CAR-T cell immunotherapy patient’s T-cells are genetically modified and inserted back to kill tumor cells. Recently two CAR-T cell therapies got FDA approval to treat B-cell lymphoma. Despite its promising approach, CAR-T cell therapy has not yet proved beneficial on solid tumors. And with an increasing number of cancer patients suffering from lung, prostate, breast, and colorectal cancers across the United States, there is an urgent need for reliable cancer treatment. In this regard, TIL immunotherapy that targets these solid cancers can be a ray of hope for many.
TIL Immunotherapy is Expected to Gain FDA approval
The US Food and Drug Administration has acknowledged the progress in the ongoing clinical trials. Using positive results of these clinical trials on cervical cancer and metastatic melanoma, Iovance will seek FDA approval later in 2020.
Following the encouraging remarks from FDA Maria Fardis, the chief executive and president of Iovance Biotherapeutics stated in a recent press release,
“This feedback is encouraging. The ability to use the current study, as well as the Breakthrough Therapy designation recently granted to LN-145 (Lifileucel), allows us to plan on a path to BLA (Biologics License Application) submission in the second half of 2020.”
Significance of TIL Immunotherapy for Malignant Cancers
The recent update has revealed remarkable results of the study. The researchers are hopeful that success in these clinical trials will pave the way for the treatment of other malignant tumors as well.
Sajeve Thomas, one of the study investigator at Iovance and oncologist at the Orlando Health UF Health Cancer Center, stated,
“TIL therapy represents a promising approach to further advance on the gains that have been made in cancer treatment, thanks to immunotherapy and combination approaches. We are encouraged to be part of evaluating new applications of Iovance TIL therapy with combinations and additional tumor types and look forward to the results in these areas.”
