TIL Therapy in Non-small-cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Patients

Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) is a personalized immunotherapy. TIL-ACT involves the infusion of autologous CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes collected from tumor material and expanded ex-vivo with IL-2. These polyclonal immune cells can recognize and target multiple individualized tumor-specific antigens. Clinical trials have demonstrated significant response rates in advanced melanoma patients. However, few trials have investigated TIL-ACT in other solid tumors, including NSCLC. For NSCLC patients experiencing disease progression after standard therapies (immune checkpoint inhibitors, targeted therapies), effective options are limited, often restricted to traditional chemotherapy with modest response rates, short durability, and significant toxicity. TIL-ACT represents an attractive individualized treatment approach for NSCLC patients. The BaseTIL-02L study is a single-arm phase II trial investigating TIL-ACT efficacy in pretreated NSCLC patients. The study protocol includes preconditioning non-myeloablative chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide and fludarabine) and in-vivo TIL activation with high-dose interleukin 2 (for up to 15 doses, every 8 hours) following TIL transfer.