Pioneering Research 

We are delighted to announce that we have treated our first patient with metastatic lung cancer with TIL therapy at Sarah Cannon Research Institute in July 2025.

In February 2024, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved TIL therapy as the first cellular therapy to treat solid tumors Lifileucel (Amtagvi) leverages immune cells called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and is now FDA approved to treat melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

At Sarah Cannon Research Institute, we are running clinical trials exploring TIL therapy in advanced/metastatic Non-small-cell lung cancer and melanoma under Dr Anja Williams (Principal Investigator). These are complex studies involving a large interdisciplinary team at HCA.

The first step for patients receiving TIL therapy is a surgical resection of a tumor lesion. The tumor sample is sent to one of the manufacturing sites in the US, where the patient’s lymphocytes, which are trained to target their cancer cells, are cultured and grown in the lab, often increasing their count to billions.

The surgery is a crucial step and requires careful selection of a tumor site for successful TIL manufacturing. Mr David Lawrence has been performing our complex thoracic surgeries and tissue preparation in cooperation with a team from SCRI, who make sure the tissue is packed and sent under the right conditions.

It takes about 4-6 weeks for the TIL product to be manufactured and sent back to SCRI. The cell product arrives in a large cryoshipper, which is stored by our pharmacy team at LBH until the patient is ready to receive their treatment.

In preparation for the TIL infusion, the patients receive 4 days of lymphodepleting chemotherapy in order to reduce the number of existing T-cells, allowing the TILs to expand. Patients are admitted at LBH and closely monitored during this time.

Once lymphodepletion chemotherapy is completed, the patients receive their TIL infusion. Usually, this involves infusing 2-3 infusion bags, that are thawed at the patient’s bedside just just prior the infusion. This process requires an experienced pharmacy and nursing team by the bedside.

Finally, 1-2 days after the TIL-infusion, patients receive up to 6 doses of high-dose IL-2 twice daily, a cytokine that promotes T-cell growth, in order to expand the TILs further.

This part of the treatment is the most intense part of the trial for patients as it can cause significant side effects ranging from chills and fevers to significant organ dysfunctions requiring intensive care. We have an interdisciplinary team of medical experts at HCA to manage our patients during this time.

Once IL-2 therapy is completed, patients can be discharged once they have recovered. They will have scans to establish the response to treatment after 6-8 weeks. If the treatment has been successful, patients remain on follow up with the SCRI team with regular scans only.



We are looking forward to giving this opportunity to more patients and are looking forward to patients being referred to us by their oncologists.