THURSDAY, Aug. 19, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Previous treatment with anti-programmed cell death-1 (aPD-1) therapy or targeted molecular therapy is associated with a lower objective response rate to adoptive cell transfer (ACT) of autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in metastatic melanoma, according to a study published online Aug. 19 in Clinical Cancer Research.

Samantha J. Seitter, D.O., from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis involving patients with metastatic melanoma who underwent surgical resection of a tumor for generation of TILs and were treated with a lymphodepleting preparative regimen followed by adoptive transfer of TILs and intravenous interleukin-2.

The researchers found that in patients naive to PD-1 therapy, adoptive transfer of TILs mediated an objective response rate of 56 percent and median melanoma-specific survival of 28.5 months compared with 24 percent and 11.6 months, respectively, in patients refractory to aPD-1. Compared with patients naive to targeted therapy, prior treatment with targeted molecular therapy was associated with a reduced response rate (21 versus 60 percent) and decreased survival (9.3 versus 50.7 months) among patients with BRAF V600E/K-mutated disease.

“If you wait to use ACT-TIL as a later-line therapy, you may not get the same durable responses as when you use it up front,” a coauthor said in a statement. “We should think about utilizing TILs earlier in the disease course.”

Two authors disclosed financial ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including Iovance Biotherapeutics, which partially funded the study.

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