In The Literature: Using a Patient's Immune Cells to Treat Metastatic Cholangiocarcinoma

Limited evidence exists that humans mount a mutation-specific T cell response to epithelial cancers. We used a whole-exomic-sequencing-based approach to demonstrate that tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) from a patient with metastatic cholangiocarcinoma contained CD4+ T helper 1 (T

1) cells recognizing a mutation in erbb2 interacting protein (ERBB2IP) expressed by the cancer.

After adoptive transfer of TIL containing about 25% mutation-specific polyfunctional T

1 cells, the patient achieved a decrease in target lesions with prolonged stabilization of disease. Upon disease progression, the patient was retreated with a >95% pure population of mutation-reactive T

1 cells and again experienced tumor regression. These results provide evidence that a CD4+ T cell response against a mutated antigen can be harnessed to mediate regression of a metastatic epithelial cancer.

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Source: Science, The New York Times

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