Imagine a groundbreaking approach to fighting cancer that involves harnessing the power of your body’s own immune system. Picture this – immune cells, specifically selected because they can identify and attack your tumor cells, are grown in large quantities in a laboratory and then reintroduced into your body to combat the disease. This innovative treatment strategy is called Combination Immunotherapy, and it has shown remarkable results in shrinking metastatic gastrointestinal cancers.
In a recent clinical trial led by renowned researcher Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute, patients with various gastrointestinal tumors received a combination of two powerful treatments: selected Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) and an immune checkpoint inhibitor called pembrolizumab (Keytruda). The goal was clear – enhance the body’s immune response against cancer cells.
“We’re seeing the first extension of cellular therapy with TILs into the common solid cancers.” – Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg
The outcome was truly promising. Nearly a quarter of the patients who underwent treatment with selected TILs along with pembrolizumab experienced significant tumor reduction, compared to only 7.7% of those who received selected TILs alone without pembrolizumab. Notably, patients treated with TILs that were not specifically chosen for their anti-tumor activity did not see any tumor shrinkage.
Dr. Rosenberg expressed his enthusiasm about this breakthrough, stating, “We see a little crack in the solid wall of cancer by using cell-based immunotherapy for common solid cancers, and we think we have ways to open that crack even further.”
The study included 91 patients with metastatic gastrointestinal cancers such as esophageal, stomach, pancreatic, colon, and rectal cancers. These individuals had undergone multiple prior treatment regimens before participating in the trial. In one phase of the study, patients who received non-selected TIL therapy showed no objective responses.
However, when participants were treated with selected TIL therapy combined with pembrolizumab to prevent immune cell deactivation by the patient’s body systems – there was a notable improvement in response rates.
“We see a little crack in the solid wall of cancer…”
Interestingly, previous treatments like standard chemotherapy and high-dose interleukin-2 had been administered to all 91 patients before receiving TIL therapy as part of the trial protocol.
Furthermore:
Responses among different gastrointestinal cancer types varied.
Duration ranged from months up to years.
Side effects were reported in 30% of patients receiving selected TILs.
Researchers are now exploring methods to identify specific proteins within tumors known as neoantigens which could potentially increase patient response rates when combined with select TIL therapy and pembrolizumab.
This cutting-edge treatment approach traces its origins back to late ’80s developments led by Dr. Rosenberg and his team at NIH – culminating last year in FDA approval for lifileucel (Amtagvi), marking a significant milestone for solid cancer treatment.
The latest study co-led by Dr. Rosenberg alongside NCI investigators Frank J Lowery Ph.D., Stephanie L Goff M.D., signifies another leap forward towards more effective therapies against devastating diseases like gastrointestinal cancers.
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