Grants

As the very first patient enrolled in a Phase II trial at Tampa’s Moffitt Cancer Center in late 2015, Sue received an experimental tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) treatment for her metastatic melanoma. The TIL treatment reduced her tumors 90%, but then the melanoma resumed growing a year and a half later. Of the 153 patients ultimately enrolled in this trial, Sue and 38 others had a partial response (significant shrinkage of tumors), 9 had a complete response (disappearance of the tumors) while 105 had no response. We are ecstatic to report, based on the results of that Phase II trial that Sue was the first participant in, the FDA on February 16, 2024 approved lifileucel (brand name Amtagvi, Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc), the first-ot-its-kind TIL cell immunotherapy she received. This makes lifileucel the first FDA approved tumor-derived T Cell immunotherapy and currently the only approved treatment for metastatic melanoma whose malignancy has progressed beyond standard front-line therapies. While Sue lost her battle, we are deeply grateful for the pivotal role that Sue’s Phase II trial at Moffitt played in this FDA approval.

In 2021, the team at Moffitt theorized that stimulating B cells with CD40L was a promising avenue to further enhance the original TIL treatment. At that time, we established the SuzyQ Melanoma Accelerator Fund at Moffitt to help fund this research in Sue’s memory. We are extremely excited to say the study has indeed proven the team’s theory, resulting in significant improvement in TIL expansion and quantity. Moffitt presented the study results at the April 2023 American Association of Cancer Research annual meeting, and a poster summarizing the study is below (Click here for a full screen version). We are very proud to have Moffitt recognize SuzyQ’s role in the funding, both as noted in the Acknowledgements section of the poster and in this article.

On the basis of this very successful study result, SuzyQ made a second significant gift to Moffitt in March 2023, to be used toward funding a Phase I clinical trial of this enhanced TIL treatment in patients. We look forward to the day when this enhanced TIL product may one day also be FDA approved.