One-Time TIL Therapy Yields 10-Year Remission in HPV-Related Cervical Cancer

In an interview with Targeted Oncology^®, Christian S. Hinrichs, MD, codirector of the Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Center of Excellence at Rutgers Cancer Institute, summarizes the background, methods, and findings of a phase 2 trial (NCT01585428) examining the performance of autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) cell therapy in human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers, the long-term data of which were recently presented at the 2025 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting.

Read the full interview with Hinrichs here.

The key finding from this study, presented at the SITC meeting, focused on 2 patients with metastatic cervical cancer from the original phase 2 study who achieved complete responses. A decade after receiving a onetime TIL infusion, these patients were followed up to confirm they remained disease free. Results confirmed no evidence of disease based on both imaging and circulating cell-free tumor DNA.

A crucial component of this project involved translational analyses aimed at discerning the lifespan and necessary presence of the T cells to preserve these outcomes. Investigators traced specific T cell populations (clonotypes) responsible for attacking the tumor and found tumor regression to be “fairly rapid,” occurring over several weeks or months. This regression corresponded with a spike or “expansion” in disease-specific T cells in the peripheral circulation; however, this amplified cellular presence quickly waned, returning to minimal levels within 1 to 2 years.

“This points more toward a model where the tumor is cleared and the T cells largely go away, Hinrichs noted in the interview. According to Hinrichs, this pattern was “sufficient for the long-term responses” observed in the 2 patients.

Hinrichs noted the limitation that tracking immune cells was largely confined to blood samples, as the absence of tumor tissue precluded studying the microenvironment. Nevertheless, the evidence strongly suggests complete erasure of the tumor mass.