Almost there…..

Denise, 

Thanks for the reply. I'll give you a short version of TIL treatment or Adoptive Cell Therapy – please ask your MD if it is something they might consider for you.  

I believe TIL treatments are still only classified as trials and done only at NIH and MD Anderson right now in the US (as well as some international sites starting up programs UK, Netherlands, Israel that I've heard of).  Moffitt used to do it but I recall reading that they had to stop due to funding issues.  

Basically, it is a challenging treatment regimen where they harvest tumors from you then isolate "tumor infiltrating lymphocytes" (TIL cells) from the tumor directly.  They can multiply those cells in the lab to the 10-100 billions and then give the cells back to you after essentially killing off your current immune system.  The idea is to "retrain" and "recharge" your immune system to recognize and kill the melanoma cells.  The goal is long term, durable responses.  You'll see response rates reported ranging from 20-70% based on the type of lymphodepletion used. 

That is a short version – there are many articles out there that better describe it.  NIH is doing several variations on this process in an attempt to better understand why some people respond completely while others may not.  They are also doing one trial combining cell therapy with vemurafenib.  

All the best to you – Troy 

Denise, 

Thanks for the reply. I'll give you a short version of TIL treatment or Adoptive Cell Therapy – please ask your MD if it is something they might consider for you.  

I believe TIL treatments are still only classified as trials and done only at NIH and MD Anderson right now in the US (as well as some international sites starting up programs UK, Netherlands, Israel that I've heard of).  Moffitt used to do it but I recall reading that they had to stop due to funding issues.  

Basically, it is a challenging treatment regimen where they harvest tumors from you then isolate "tumor infiltrating lymphocytes" (TIL cells) from the tumor directly.  They can multiply those cells in the lab to the 10-100 billions and then give the cells back to you after essentially killing off your current immune system.  The idea is to "retrain" and "recharge" your immune system to recognize and kill the melanoma cells.  The goal is long term, durable responses.  You'll see response rates reported ranging from 20-70% based on the type of lymphodepletion used. 

That is a short version – there are many articles out there that better describe it.  NIH is doing several variations on this process in an attempt to better understand why some people respond completely while others may not.  They are also doing one trial combining cell therapy with vemurafenib.  

All the best to you – Troy 

Denise, 

Thanks for the reply. I'll give you a short version of TIL treatment or Adoptive Cell Therapy – please ask your MD if it is something they might consider for you.  

I believe TIL treatments are still only classified as trials and done only at NIH and MD Anderson right now in the US (as well as some international sites starting up programs UK, Netherlands, Israel that I've heard of).  Moffitt used to do it but I recall reading that they had to stop due to funding issues.  

Basically, it is a challenging treatment regimen where they harvest tumors from you then isolate "tumor infiltrating lymphocytes" (TIL cells) from the tumor directly.  They can multiply those cells in the lab to the 10-100 billions and then give the cells back to you after essentially killing off your current immune system.  The idea is to "retrain" and "recharge" your immune system to recognize and kill the melanoma cells.  The goal is long term, durable responses.  You'll see response rates reported ranging from 20-70% based on the type of lymphodepletion used. 

That is a short version – there are many articles out there that better describe it.  NIH is doing several variations on this process in an attempt to better understand why some people respond completely while others may not.  They are also doing one trial combining cell therapy with vemurafenib.  

All the best to you – Troy