Immunotherapy Using Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes for Patients With Metastatic Melanoma

Summary

Background: * The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Surgery Branch has developed an experimental therapy that involves taking white blood cells from patients' tumors, growing them in the laboratory in large numbers, and then giving the cells back to the patient with aldesleukin (IL-2) a drug that keeps the white blood cells active. These cells are called Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes, or TIL and we have given this type of treatment to over 200 patients with melanoma. * This study will use chemotherapy to prepare the immune system before this white blood cell treatment. Our prior studies indicate that aldesleukin may not be required for cell transfer. Objectives: \- To see if chemotherapy and white blood cell therapy without aldesleukin is a safe and effective treatment for metastatic melanoma. Eligibility: \- Individuals at least 18 years of age and less than or equal to 70 years of age with metastatic melanoma. Design: * Work up stage: Patients will be seen as an outpatient at the National Institute of Health (NIH) clinical Center and undergo a history and physical examination, scans, x-rays, lab tests, and other tests as needed. * Surgery: If the patients meet all of the requirements for the study they will undergo surgery to remove a tumor that can be used to grow the TIL product. * Leukapheresis: Patients may undergo leukapheresis to obtain additional white blood cells. {Leukapheresis is a common procedure, which removes only the white blood cells from the patient.} * Treatment: Once their cells have grown, the patients will be admitted to the hospital for the conditioning chemotherapy, the TIL cells and aldesleukin. They will stay in the hospital for about 4 weeks for the treatment. * Follow up: Patients will return to the clinic for a physical exam, review of side effects, lab tests, and scans about every 1-3 months for the first year, and then every 6 months to 1 year as long as their tumors are shrinking. Follow up visits will take up to 2 days.

Timeline

Start

2011-09

Primary completion

2013-08

Completion

2013-08

Outcome

Outcome not reported

Stopped (Enrollment): “Study was closed prematurely due to slow and insufficient accrual.”

Publications

• Background Gogas HJ, Kirkwood JM, Sondak VK. Chemotherapy for metastatic melanoma: time for a change? Cancer. 2007 Feb 1;109(3):455-64. doi: 10.1002/cncr.22427.
• Background Atkins MB, Lotze MT, Dutcher JP, Fisher RI, Weiss G, Margolin K, Abrams J, Sznol M, Parkinson D, Hawkins M, Paradise C, Kunkel L, Rosenberg SA. High-dose recombinant interleukin 2 therapy for patients with metastatic melanoma: analysis of 270 patients treated between 1985 and 1993. J Clin Oncol. 1999 Jul;17(7):2105-16. doi: 10.1200/JCO.1999.17.7.2105.
• Background Jemal A, Siegel R, Ward E, Murray T, Xu J, Thun MJ. Cancer statistics, 2007. CA Cancer J Clin. 2007 Jan-Feb;57(1):43-66. doi: 10.3322/canjclin.57.1.43.

Drugs

Indications