Richard Wu, MD, PhD, and the James are at the forefront of a new type of cancer treatment in which lymphocytes from a patient’s immune system are removed from a tumor, enhanced in the lab and then returned to the body to better detect and kill cancer cells. It’s called: tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy and it is currently being used in clinical trials at the James and other leading cancer centers. Wu explains that the lymphatic system includes T cells and B cells that fight cancer. “In the patients I treat, the cancer has been infiltrated by T cells, but for some reason their tumor doesn’t shrink,” he said. “The cancer cells have found a way to shut off the immune system.” The T cells are removed from within what Wu describes as the “suppressive environment” of the tumor, and these millions of cells are “exposed to a potent stimulus to regrow and regain function.” Millions of T cells become billions and, because they are from the patient’s body, the immune system “can recognize them and maximize their cancer-killing potential.” Still in the early stages, the James TIL clinical trials have focused on melanoma and lung cancer. “We are at the tip of the iceberg,” Wu said. “I see TIL as a platform therapy and we’re only at the beginning and there are multiple ways it is being explored so we can make it work even better … This is what drives me in my daily work, seeing patients who haven’t responded to standard treatment options and coming up with a new approach, never being satisfied with the status quo.”