Lymphodepletion Plus Adoptive Cell Transfer With High Dose IL-2 in Patients With Metastatic Melanoma

The overall purpose of this research study is to find a better way to treat melanoma. This will be a single arm exploratory trial to evaluate prospectively the feasibility of, the toxicities of, and the persistence of TIL which can survive in vivo.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Metastatic Melanoma
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Surgery; Drug: Administration of Lymphodepletion; Other: Adoptive Cell Transfer; Drug: High Dose IL-2

Detailed Description

Patients are being offered admission to this study to test the side effects of an investigational treatment prepared from special immune cells (T cells) specific for melanoma. A T-cell is a type of lymphocyte. Lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell that protect people from viral infections; help other cells fight bacterial and fungal infections; produce antibodies; fight cancers; and coordinate the activities of other cells in the immune system. These special immune cells will be taken from a sample of the patient's tumor tissue that will be surgically removed from their body and grown in the laboratory. They will then given back to the patient in their veins. These cells are called tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL). We wish to study the side effects of TIL when they are given with two chemotherapy drugs to temporarily decrease the patient's own immune cells and a drug called Interleukin-2 (IL-2). The two chemotherapy drugs called fludarabine and cytoxan are used to greatly reduce the number of normal lymphocytes circulating in the patient's body, called lymphodepletion, so that there will be more "space" for the cancer fighting lymphocytes (T-cells) that will be infused in their veins. We wish to find out how often these cells can shrink or slow the growth of the patient's melanoma. We also wish to find out the effects of lymphodepletion followed by TIL and high dose IL-2 on the patient's immune system. The lymphodepletion followed by TIL and high dose IL-2 is experimental, and has not been proven to help treat melanoma.

The IL-2 has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of metastatic melanoma that cannot be surgically removed. The chemotherapy drugs cytoxan and fludarabine used for lymphodepletion have been approved by the FDA, but not for the treatment of metastatic melanoma.

The combination of lymphodepletion followed by TIL and high dose IL-2 is not FDA approved but the FDA is permitting its use in this study.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 19
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Florida
    • Tampa, Florida, United States, 33612
      • H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients must have unresectable metastatic stage IV melanoma or stage III in-transit or regional nodal disease.
• Residual measurable disease after resection of target lesion(s) for TIL growth
• Clinical performance status of Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) 0 -1. ECOG performance status of 0-1 will be inferred if the patient's level of energy is ≥ 50% of baseline.
• Patients may be treatment-naïve or may have been previously treated for metastatic disease.
• Patients with a negative pregnancy test (urine or serum) must be documented at screening for women of childbearing potential (WOCBP).
• Adequate renal, hepatic and hematologic function, including creatinine of less than or equal to 1.7 gm/dL, total bilirubin less than or equal to 2.0 mg/dL, except in patients with Gilbert's Syndrome who must have a total bilirubin less than 3.0 mg/dL, aspartic transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) of less than 3X institutional upper limit of normal (ULN), hemoglobin of 8 gm/dL or more, white blood count (WBC) of 3000 per mm³ and total granulocytes of 1000 per mm³ or more, and platelets of 100,000 per mm³ or more.
• Patients must have a positive screening Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibody titre on screening test.
• Patients with antibiotic allergies per se are not excluded; although the production of TIL for adoptive transfer includes antibiotics, extensive washing after harvest will minimize systemic exposure to antibiotics.
• Patients that had previously grown sterile, validated TIL under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) conditions on Moffitt Clinical trial protocol 15375 (Use of Excess Melanoma Tumor Specimens Not Required for Diagnostic Purposes for Validation of Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocyte [TIL] Growth Procedures) meeting the above criteria may be consented and enrolled in the current trial using the previously established TIL stored in the Cell therapies Core facility for up to 2 years.
• At screening, patients with ≤ 3 untreated central nervous system (CNS) metastases may be included provided none of the untreated lesions are > 1 cm in greatest dimension, and there is no peri-tumoral edema present on brain imaging (magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] or computed tomography [CT] if MRI is contraindicated).
• At screening, patients with CNS metastases treated with either surgical resection and/or radiation therapy may be included. Patients may be included if the largest lesion is ≤ 1 cm, and there is no evidence of progressive CNS disease on brain imaging at least 28 days after treatment.
• At screening, patients may be included if the largest lesion is > 1 cm or > 3 in number, and there is no evidence of progressive CNS disease on brain imaging at least 90 days after treatment with surgery and/or radiation therapy.
• All laboratory and imaging studies must be completed and satisfactory within 30 days of signing the consent document.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with active systemic infections requiring intravenous antibiotics, coagulation disorders or other major medical illnesses of the cardiovascular, respiratory or immune system are excluded.
• Patients testing positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) titre, Hepatitis B surface antigen, Hepatitis C antibody, Human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) I or II antibody, or both rapid plasma reagent (RPR) and fluorescein treponemal antibodies (FTA) positive are excluded.
• Patients who are pregnant or nursing
• Patients needing chronic, immunosuppressive systemic steroids
• Patients with autoimmune diseases that require immunosuppressive medications
• Presence of a significant psychiatric disease, which in the opinion of the principal investigator or his designee, would prevent adequate informed consent or render immunotherapy unsafe or contraindicated
• Patients with > 3 untreated CNS metastases or evidence of peri-tumoral edema will be excluded.
• Patients with ≤ 3 untreated CNS metastases but with at least one lesion >1 cm or peri-tumoral edema will be excluded.
• Patients with treated CNS metastases > 1 cm or > 3 in number will be excluded if there is evidence of progressive CNS disease on brain imaging at least 90 days after treatment with surgery and/or radiation therapy.
• Inability to comprehend and give informed consent

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: TIL With High Dose IL-2; Day -7 and -6: Cyclophosphamide 60 mg/kg/day I.V. in 250 ml NS over approximately 2 hours. Mesna 20 mg/kg with D5W or NS at 125 ml/hour infused intravenously over 24 hours. Day -5 to Day -1: Fludarabine 25 mg/m^2 intravenous piggyback (IVPB0 daily over approximately 30 minutes for 5 days. Day 0: T cell infusion in 250-1000 ml NS over approximately 15-60 minutes depending on volume to be infused. Days 1-5: High dose IL-2, 720,000 IU/kg IV bolus (about 15 minutes) every 8-16 hours for up to 15 doses, beginning approximately 12-16 hours after T cell infusion.

Procedure: Surgery; Surgery to remove a tumor for growth of TIL; Other Names: Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL); T-cell; lymphocyte; Drug: Administration of Lymphodepletion; Lymphodepleting chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide and fludarabine to enhance T cell persistence and effectiveness in vivo; Other Names: Cytoxan; Other: Adoptive Cell Transfer; T-cell infusion; Drug: High Dose IL-2; Beginning approximately 12 - 16 hours after cell infusion.; Other Names: Proleukin; Aldesleukin; Interleukin-2

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants With Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL) Growth	Feasibility was the primary endpoint of this trial, defined as a patient who can grow and expand T-cells: Number of participants with fragments cultured; Number of participants with fragments that reached a final count of 20e6 cells within 5 weeks of culture; Number of participants with fragments that reached a final count of 20e6 cells within 5 weeks of culture and were cocultured with autologous or human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched tumor cells for interferon(IFN)-γ production; Number of participants with fragments that produced IFN-γ in response to autologous or HLA-matched tumor cells.	192 Days Post Surgical Resection

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants With Objective Response (OR)	OR is defined as the patient being alive at Day 70 and tumor size evaluated using the Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors (RECIST) 1.1 criteria to be a complete response or partial response. Complete Response (CR): Disappearance of all target lesions; Partial Response (PR): At least a 30% decrease in the sum of the longest diameter (LD) of target lesions taking as reference the baseline sum LD. Evaluations were made by computed tomography (CT) scan approximately 6 to 8 weeks after the cell infusion, or CT scan approximately 10 weeks after the cell infusion, or by clinical evaluation during the first 70 days.	Average of 10 Months Follow-up

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Amod Sarnaik, M.D., H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Moffitt Cancer Center Clinical Trials website

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 20, 2009
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 31, 2014
• Study Completion (Actual): August 18, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 27, 2009
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 29, 2009
• First Posted (Estimated): November 2, 2009

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): December 19, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 4, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: skin; adoptive cell therapy; tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL); lymphodepletion
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Skin Diseases; Neuroectodermal Tumors; Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal; Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue; Neuroendocrine Tumors; Nevi and Melanomas; Skin Neoplasms; Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases; Melanoma; Peptides; Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins; Proteins; Organic Chemicals; Investigative Techniques; Therapeutics; Clinical Laboratory Techniques; Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures; Diagnosis; Cell Count; Cytological Techniques; Hematologic Tests; Cell Physiological Phenomena; Blood Physiological Phenomena; Circulatory and Respiratory Physiological Phenomena; Leukocyte Count; Hydrocarbons; Biological Factors; Phosphoramide Mustards; Nitrogen Mustard Compounds; Mustard Compounds; Hydrocarbons, Halogenated; Phosphoramides; Organophosphorus Compounds; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; Biological Therapy; Immunologic Techniques; Cytokines; Interleukins; Lymphokines; Blood Cell Count; Immunomodulation; Immunization, Passive; Immunization; Immunotherapy; Cyclophosphamide; Interleukin-2; Lymphocyte Count; aldesleukin; Surgical Procedures, Operative; Adoptive Transfer
• Other Study ID Numbers: MCC-15781