{
  "abstract": "Immunity to solid tumors is associated with the hallmarks of cancer-associated inflammation and the ability of immune mechanisms to limit tumor progression. Application of expanded tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte adoptive T cell therapy (TIL ACT) in clinical trials is now practiced at many sites around the world. Prior to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), an approximate 50% objective response rate was consistently observed across multiple institutions for patients with melanoma. This now-approved strategy approaches 35% in recent studies from the USA and 49% with more highly selected patients in Europe. Here, we focus on early TIL studies in non-melanoma epithelial neoplasms. Increased understanding of cancer immunology has allowed changes in the TIL expansion process to include: (1) initial generation of TIL from fragments, (2) use of specialized large-scale culture vessels, (3) use of the rapid expansion protocol to enable ‘young’ TIL prosecution, and (4) treatment regimens employing non-myeloablative (NMA) chemotherapy followed by brief interleukin-2 administration. NMA leads to homeostatic proliferation of the transferred T cells, engraftment, profound neutropenia and lymphopenia, and improved clinical outcome. A key success of TIL ACT relies on the quality, specificity, and number of pre-existing TIL. This, in turn, is highly influenced by the suppressive tumor microenvironment. Thus, any means to alter ‘cold tumor (non-T cell inflamed)’ to ‘hot tumor (T cell inflamed)’ is theoretically desirable to improve both the quality and quantity of TIL obtained before harvest. Combinations of other immunotherapies such as application of ICB, co-stimulatory molecule agonist antibodies, autophagy inhibition, and dendritic cell support strategies could provide additional­ improvements in TIL therapy and enable harnessing of the adaptive immune response to enhance the clinical outcome of TIL-ACT patients.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University Hospital of Lausanne, and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland"
      ],
      "name": "George Coukos"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy, Department of Oncology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev, Denmark"
      ],
      "name": "Marco Donia"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Iovance Biotherapeutics, San Carlos, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Brian R Gastman"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Surgery Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Stephanie L Goff"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, Barcelona, Spain"
      ],
      "name": "Alena Gros"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University Hospital of Lausanne, and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland"
      ],
      "name": "Alexandre Harari"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Sophia Hernandez"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Fumito Ito"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Ajay V Maker"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, Florida, USA"
      ],
      "name": "John E Mullinax"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Pranav Murthy"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Sara I Pai"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of New Mexico, UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Sangeetha Prabhakaran"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Medici Therapeutics, Boston, Massachusetts, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Nicholas P Restifo"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Natalie L Silver"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Paula Marincola Smith"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Simon Turcotte"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Patrick L Wagner"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Surgery Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA"
      ],
      "name": "James C Yang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Michael T Lotze"
    }
  ],
  "title": "The science of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL): perspectives from the SITC Surgery Committee",
  "uid": "5ceef7e7-07e2-5046-ab55-a64020a23d68"
}