Investigating the Potential of Isolating and Expanding Lymphocytes from Adult Sarcoma

Sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of mesenchymal neoplasms, which many are associated with a high risk of metastasis and poor prognosis. Conventional chemotherapy and targeted therapies have varying effects across individuals and tumour subtypes. They frequently provide limited clinical benefit; hence, more effective treatments are urgently needed. Recent advances in immunotherapy – such as checkpoint inhibition or adoptive cell therapy (ACT) – show potential in increasing efficacy by providing a more personalized treatment. Through optimizing an expansion protocol for tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from primary sarcoma samples, TILs were isolated and cultured from 55 of 92 patients. The isolated TILs varied in CD4+ and CD8+ Tcell compositions and retain their ability to release IFNγ upon stimulation. Overall, I have identified TILs in a subset of sarcomas; furthermore, by expanding and characterizing these TIL populations I have developed a means by which this can potentially be applied towards ACT in he future.M.Sc.2022-03-15 00:00:0