The autologous T-cell therapy lifileucel in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer

Lifileucel (LN-145), an autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte cell therapy, has a good objective response rate in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) resistant to immune checkpoint inhibitors, as shown by new data recently published on Cancer Discovery.

In this phase 2 multicenter study with the aim to evaluate the efficacy and safety of lifileucel, this autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte cell therapy was administered to 28 patients with heavily pretreated mNSCLC. Lifileucel has been recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma previously treated with a PD-1 blocking antibody; thus, authors wanted to investigate if this approach could be feasible in patients with mNSCLC with PD-L1–negative tumors and/or with primary or acquired resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Lifileucel was successfully manufactured using tumor tissue from different anatomic sites, predominantly lung; results showed an objective response rate of 21.4%, with responses occurring in tumors with profiles typically resistant to immunotherapy. Two responses were ongoing at the time of data cutoff, including one complete metabolic response in a PD‐L1−negative tumor. Adverse events were generally as expected and manageable; there were two deaths from treatment-emergent adverse events (cardiac failure and multiple organ failure).  As authors say, «This is the first study to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of centrally manufactured autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte cell therapy as a single modality in patients with mNSCLC after treatment with anti–PD-1/PD-L1 therapy. These results are encouraging and warrant further investigation of lifileucel as a feasible and individualized treatment in patients with mNSCLC».