The FDA recently granted approval to Lifileucel as the first one-time cell therapy and the first tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) therapy for a solid tumor, melanoma, which is an advanced skin cancer. TIL technology has taken nearly four decades to reach maturity. TIL therapy is a type of treatment in which tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (a type of immune cell that can recognize and kill cancer cells) are removed from a patient’s tumor and grown in large numbers in a laboratory. These lymphocytes are then given back to the patient by infusion to help the immune system kill the cancer cells. Future iterations of TIL therapy will be important for lung cancer, colon cancer, head and neck cancer, bladder cancer and many other cancer types.
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