Surgical considerations for tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy in melanoma: results from a randomized phase III trial

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to describe the impact of surgical resections on tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy, based on results from a randomized phase III trial comparing TIL therapy with standard ipilimumab in patients with metastatic melanoma (NCT02278887).

Methods: Surgical details of all operations performed in the trial were collected. Location, total number, and size of resected metastases were assessed in relation to successful TIL investigational medicinal product (IMP) manufacture and response to TIL therapy.

Results: A total of 93 operations were needed to treat 80 patients with TIL therapy. Surgical complications were detected in 17% of operations. These were mostly mild Clavien-Dindo grade I/II complications and one Clavien-Dindo grade IIIa complication. The size or number of resected lesions did not significantly impact the TIL-IMP manufacture failure or response rate. The failure rate of TIL-IMP manufacture from lymph node metastases was 2.8% (1 of 36), which was lower than from subcutaneous metastases (19.4% (6 of 31), P = 0.037) and other sites (15.0% (3 of 20), P = 0.038). Response rates per resected lesion type were 52.9% (18 of 34) for lymph nodes, 40.9% (9 of 22) for subcutaneous lesions, 58.8% (10 of 17) for other lesions, and 60.0% (3 of 5) for combinations of lesions, without statistically significant differences.

Conclusion: Tumour resections for TIL-IMP manufacture lead to limited surgical complications. Manufacture with a therapeutic response was successful using lesions of varying sizes from different anatomical locations, with highest rates for lymph nodes.