Melanoma is a dangerous form of skin cancer that has the potential to spread to other parts of the body.

Approximately 100,000 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with melanoma this year, according to the American Cancer Society. In early 2024, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new treatment for advanced melanoma called tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy (TIL therapy).

Dr. James Jakub, a Mayo Clinic surgical oncologist, explains that TIL therapy can be a one-time treatment for some patients diagnosed with advanced melanoma.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy, or TIL therapy, uses the body's own immune cells to target cancer — in this case, advanced melanoma. The process, which takes about three weeks, begins with surgery.

"We remove the cancer; it's sent off to a lab, and those immune cells, those lymphocytes, are isolated, separated out and enriched."

While the cells are prepared, the patient undergoes chemotherapy in preparation for their own immune cells, which recognize the melanoma, to be infused back into their body.

"When we give them back to the patient, they can effectively target the cancer," says Dr. Jakub. And now, in numbers, they can overwhelm the cancer and kill it."

Blood tests and scans measure the body's response three months after treatment. For those who have failed multiple lines of treatment, this one-time therapy offers hope.

"It's the potential that their cancer may not come back again, and they may not need any additional therapy," says Dr. Jakub.

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