Modified T cells may enhance MM treatment

Dr Noonan said the team has used these data to guide 2 other ongoing trials of MILs. Those studies, she said, are trying to extend antitumor response and tumor specificity by combining the MILs with a cancer vaccine called GVAX and the drug lenalidomide, which stimulates T-cell responses.

All of the trials have also shed light on new ways to grow the MILs.

“In most of these trials, you see that the more cells you get, the better response you get in patients,” Dr Noonan said. “Learning how to improve cell growth may therefore improve the therapy.”

Researchers are also developing MILs to treat solid tumors such as lung, esophageal, and gastric cancers, as well as the pediatric cancers neuroblastoma and Ewing’s sarcoma.