Dr. Hamid on the Differences in Evaluation Criteria for TIL Therapy in Melanoma

Omid Hamid, MD, director, Melanoma Program, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, chief, Translational Research and Immunotherapy, director, Melanoma Therapeutics, Phase I Immuno-Oncology Program, The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute, discusses the differences in evaluation criteria for tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) therapy in melanoma.

Overall, the field is only at the beginning of trying to understand how to evaluate adoptive T-cell therapy in melanoma, Hamid says. Immunotherapy is being evaluated with immune RECIST criteria, allowing for some initial progression until the immune system takes effect, Hamid explains. The ability to evaluate trials against one another is difficult, as the cohorts are heterogeneous and prior therapies patients received are not similar, Hamid adds. However, trials have opened examining patients with melanoma who received TIL therapy during a period of stable disease with PD-1 inhibitors, Hamid says.

Moreover, cohorts are opening with patients who've developed toxicity with prior checkpoint inhibitors, Hamid continues. Trials are evaluating whether the preconditioning regimens can be changed, whether TIL therapy administration can be changed, and whether other therapies can replace high-dose IL-2, Hamid explains. As such, the field is evaluating the convergence of newer treatments to augment adoptive T-cell therapy, Hamid concludes.