Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte Adoptive T Cell Therapy for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Dr. Antonia is currently the department chair of the Thoracic Oncology Department at the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida. He is also a Professor of Oncologic Sciences at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa. Prior to being named chair of Thoracic Oncology in 2010, he was associate chairman of the Sarcoma Department.

He joined the Moffitt Cancer Center in 1994. Dr. Antonia received his MD and his PhD in immunology from the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, Connecticut. In addition, he completed an internal medicine residency at Yale University School of Medicine and pursued additional training at Yale through a medical oncology fellowship and post-doctoral fellowship in immunobiology.

Dr. Antonia’s work focuses on translational research. Using his molecular biology and cellular background in the development of immunotherapeutic strategies for the treatment of cancer patients, he has developed strategies designed to thwart the immunosuppressive mechanisms used by tumors to evade T cell mediated rejection. His clinical interests focus on immunotherapy and immunobiology, in particular, gene-modified tumor cell vaccine trials at both pre-clinical and clinical stages. He has designed and conducted numerous cutting-edge studies with novel immunotherapeutics and has two patents for technology he has developed. He has been awarded a K24 grant from the National Cancer Institute to support his clinical research and is the principal investigator for a Thoracic SPORE project. Dr. Antonia is also conducting several ongoing investigator-initiated clinical trials testing novel tumor vaccines, and tumor vaccine augmentation strategies for the treatment of various cancers. Dr. Antonia also serves as chairman of Moffitt’s Scientific Review Committee and medical director of the Tumor Vaccine Production Facility at Moffitt. He was named the Moffitt Physician of the Year in 2005 and Mentor of the Year in 2008. Dr. Antonia has published papers in several peer-reviewed journals, including Science, Clinical Cancer Research, Current Opinions in Oncology, and Cancer Research. In 2014, he was recognized as the “Most Cited Faculty” during the Moffitt Faculty Appreciation/Recognition Reception. In 2015, he was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors.

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Meet the Team

Scott J. Antonia, MD, PhD, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Eric B. Haura, MD, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Benjamin C. Creelan, MD, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
John M. Koomen, PhD, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Jamie Teer, PhD, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Dung-Tsa Chen, PhD, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Frederic J. Kaye, MD, University of Florida

Patient Advocates: Rosalynne I. Miller, Joan Tashbar

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About This SU2C Catalyst Clinical Trial

Are you or a loved one facing stage IV or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)? Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) is supporting a clinical trial that may one day benefit not only patients with NSCLC, but potentially those with other cancer types as well.

Lung cancer is recognized by the immune system, yet many cancer treatments that unleash an immune attack on cancer cells, known as immune checkpoint inhibitors, don’t work in up to 80% of patients with NSCLC.

What is nivolumab?

Nivolumab is a type of immunotherapy that stops the tumor from repressing the immune system response. It is an antibody that binds to the body’s T cells in order to keep them turned “on” even while the tumor is trying to turn them “off.” These activated T cells (white blood cells that help your body fight disease) can then attack the cancer cells.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are an immune treatment in which the patient’s own tumor is used to fight the disease. The patient’s tumor is harvested; then immune cells (helper and killer T cells) are isolated from the patient’s tumor, grown and then re-infused back into the patient. This type of treatment has been shown to achieve lasting and durable remissions in some other types of cancer, but has not yet been reported in lung cancer. This clinical trial will combine the TIL cancer treatment with the immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab to test whether the combination is safe, and to see if it will ultimately increase the patient’s tumor response rate and duration of remission.

We Need You

Why Your Participation Matters

This trial will help confirm whether a TIL immune treatment in combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor has promise for patients with NSCLC. This trial will assess the safety of the treatment combination and lay the groundwork for future studies to better understand which TIL features produce the greatest success rate in patients. Your involvement is needed to continue this cutting-edge approach that could help improve cancer treatments for patients.

Key Insights for Participants

This trial is designed for patients who have never received a PD-1 immunotherapy treatment.
Once the tumor is harvested, it can take up to two months to grow TILs. Therefore, a patient whose condition is declining rapidly may not be the best candidate for this particular study.
Participants interested in this study must have a tumor that can be surgically removed in order to grow the TILs.

Eligibility

Patients with confirmed diagnosis of stage IV or recurrent NSCLC are eligible to enroll. There are additional criteria that must be met to participate, or that may prevent a patient from participating.

Key criteria are summarized below and can be found in detail on ClinicalTrials.gov. Interested patients will need to review their medical history with a clinical trial patient coordinator before they can be accepted to participate in this trial.

Gender:

Female or Male

Age Range:

18 years and older

Diagnosis:

Stage IV or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Requirements

Eligible participants must have received no previous PD-1 treatment, or no more than five prior types of treatment (not including
PD-1).

Participants must have sufficient liver, kidney and blood counts to participate.

For patient safety, there must be NO evidence of an active autoimmune condition, a supplemental oxygen requirement, previous pneumonitis, heart failure, significant heart problems or other active cancers.

Participants may not have any active infections including HIV and hepatitis

Participate

You play a vital role.

Here are the locations where you can currently participate in this clinical trial. If you, a loved, or patient are interested, please contact the patient coordinator at your preferred site. The patient coordinator is there to help you understand every aspect of the clinical trial process and answer any questions you may have.

Once you contact the patient coordinator, he or she will start by reviewing your medical history with you to see whether you meet all the criteria to participate. The coordinator will then guide you through a review of the study and detailed “informed consent” documents that you are required to sign when you enroll in a clinical trial.

Tampa - Florida

Moffitt Cancer Center
Ben Creelan, MD
Patient Coordinator: Caitlyn Ward
P: 813-745-1344

Contact

Gainesville - Florida

University of Florida Health Hospital
Frederick Kaye, MD
Patient Coordinator: Allison Trainor
P: 352-265-0680
ext 87617
F: 352-265-0735

Contact

Resources

Support for this study comes from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Inc. Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. and Prometheus Laboratories, Inc.

Learn more about BMS +Learn more about Iovance +Learn more about Prometheus +

Here are some links to informational videos and organizations that provide more information about TIL Therapy and NSCLC, and may provide information on patient support, treatment options, and current clinical trials.

LUNGevity +American Lung Association +
For additional resources, please visit the following support services:

Clinical Trial Finder