The first annual meeting of PragmaTIL, a European project coordinated and led by Dr. Elena Garralda and Dr. Silvia Martin Lluesma, took place on April 15 and 16 at VHIO’s Cellex Building. The event brought together representatives from the project partners to discuss the study strategic updates and plan the future steps.
Optimizing cell therApy with TILs
The main objective of the project is to optimize the cell therapy with adoptive tumor infiltrating lymphocyte cell therapy (TIL-ACT) of patients with melanoma, lung cancer or cervical cancer, and to substantially expand and improve the clinical application of this treatment modality in academic hospitals.
TILs are the T cells of the immune system that are naturally found in the tumor microenvironment. Adoptive cell therapy with TILs is a type of immunotherapy that involves extracting these lymphocytes from the patient’s tumor tissue, producing them in large quantities in the laboratory and re-infusing them back into the patient to help the immune system fight the tumor.
Multi-centric clinical trial
The encounter began with an announcement from Dr. Elena Garralda, Codirector of VHIO’s Clinical Research Program and PragmaTIL’s Coordinator, addressing the submission of the clinical trial to the European Regulatory Authorities. The proposal, which currently awaits approval, represents a significant milestone in the project’s collective efforts.
This clinical trial will determine whether it is possible to reduce the toxicity associated with high doses of interleukin-2 (IL-2), a cytokine necessary for the expansion and activation of TILs in patients, while maintaining the efficacy of the treatment.
Project strategic roadmap
Over the course of two dynamic days, attendees engaged in enriching interactions, delving into strategic decisions and PragmaTIL’s roadmap. The gathering gave an opportunity for the different working groups to discuss their progress and future endeavours. The conversations included important subjects such as clinical trial implementation, navigating regulatory processes, TIL products characteristics and the critical role of citizen and patient engagement across the study continuum.
On the second day, PragmaTIL members and VHIO scientists and clinicians, had the opportunity to attend a keynote session on “Innovative Cancer Immunotherapy Approaches,”, presented by Professor Inge Marie Svane, Director of the National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy, CCIT-DK and Principal Investigator (PI) at PragmaTIL representing her center.
In addition, during discussions, guests took advantage of opportunities for social interaction and networking, confirming their commitment to the project’s success and the value of joint efforts among all partners engaged.
To learn more about PragmaTIL visit www.pragmatil.eu
