“Growing up in the 1970s, nobody really thought about using sunscreen,” Robert Heil, a survivor of stage 4 melanoma (skin cancer), said.
Heil was the first patient at UofL James Graham Brown Cancer Center to enroll in a clinical trial for tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), which he credits for saving his life.
Heil describes the procedure as “cancer fighters in training.”
Dr. Jason Chesney, principal investigator for the trial who is also director of UofL Brown Cancer Center, describes TILs as a mini version of a bone marrow transplant.
He explains how this type of immunotherapy works: Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell that has left the bloodstream and entered a tumor. These cells are pulled from the patient’s tumor and removed from the body. Those cancer-fighting white blood cells are then multiplied in the lab so that billions of them are infused back into the patient, which stimulates the immune system to kill the tumor.
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