Immunotherapy and cellular therapeutics represent the future of cancer care. These biological therapies involve manipulating the body’s cells to reactivate and strengthen their abilities to attack cancer cells. Immunotherapy is a precision cancer treatment and is considered the future of cancer treatment by the National Cancer Institute. Other, more traditional, types of cancer treatment include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Immunotherapy is a type of treatment for a variety of cancers that harnesses one’s own immune system to fight his or her specific cancer cells. Tumor infiltrating lymphocyte, or TIL therapy, is a type of immunotherapy and part of the body’s natural response to cancer. TIL cells are naturally occurring immune cells that are on constant surveillance to recognize, attack and kill cancer cells. Recently, the Food and Drug Administration approved lifileucel (Amtagvi), the first treatment for cancer that uses TILs. On this episode, Dr. Roy Jensen, vice chancellor and director of KU Cancer Center speaks with Dr. Muhammad Mushtaq, associate professor of hematologic malignancies and cellular therapeutics at the University of Kansas Medical Center, about this exciting topic.

Links from this Episode:

• Learn more about TIL therapy via the National Cancer Institute
• Read the frequently asked questions about immunotherapy on the KU Cancer Center website
• Learn about Dr. Mushtaq
• Read the FDA’s announcement of approval for TIL therapy
• Learn more about cancer clinical trials at KU Cancer Center

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