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Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy

Lifileucel

Amtagvi · LIFI

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy · approved 2024 · 6 references

A one-time tumor-infiltrating-lymphocyte product whose kidney risk lives in the IL-2 conditioning, not the cells.

Signature injury
Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI
Severity
Moderate
Reversibility
Reversible
Onset
Acute — within hours to days of high-dose IL-2 administration during the conditioning/expansion phase.

Signature kidney injury & incidence

Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI.

AKI is common in the overall regimen but is driven by the high-dose IL-2 component (and lymphodepletion), not the TILs themselves. In the pooled C-144-01 experience renal/AKI events fell within the expected high-dose IL-2 toxicity spectrum; a clean drug-specific AKI rate for the TIL product alone is not established. By analogy to other adoptive cell therapies, AKI in the broader CAR-T literature runs 5-33%.

Source: Chesney et al., J Immunother Cancer 2022

Reported injury signatures: Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI, Acute Tubular Necrosis, Electrolyte Disturbance.

Renal toxicity profile

  1. Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKIPrimary
  2. Acute Tubular NecrosisSecondary
  3. Electrolyte DisturbanceSecondary

Onset timing & rechallenge

Acute (~1–7 days) — Within hours to days of the high-dose IL-2 given during conditioning/expansion.

Mechanism of kidney injury

High-dose IL-2 causes a systemic capillary-leak syndrome: cytokine-mediated vascular endothelial permeability produces intravascular volume depletion, hypotension and prerenal hemodynamic AKI that can progress to ischemic acute tubular necrosis. Lymphodepleting fludarabine/cyclophosphamide adds direct tubular and prerenal stress; rapid tumor kill can trigger tumor-lysis metabolic derangements; cytokine release and sepsis from neutropenia contribute additional ischemic injury.

Clinical presentation

Oliguria, weight gain and edema with hypotension during IL-2 dosing; rising creatinine, low fractional excretion of sodium early (prerenal) evolving to ATN with muddy-brown granular casts if ischemia persists; electrolyte derangements and, with tumor lysis, hyperuricemia/hyperphosphatemia/hyperkalemia.

Management

Supportive intensive care: judicious fluids and vasopressors for capillary-leak hypotension, hold further IL-2 doses, treat ischemic ATN supportively, and apply standard tumor-lysis measures if metabolic derangements appear. AKI is usually reversible as IL-2 effects resolve; renal replacement therapy is rarely needed.

Risk factors

  • Number/intensity of high-dose IL-2 doses tolerated
  • Capillary-leak-driven hypotension
  • Baseline CKD, older age, cardiovascular disease
  • Lymphodepleting fludarabine/cyclophosphamide and nephrotoxic antimicrobials

Prevention

  • Treat only in centers experienced with high-dose IL-2
  • Careful fluid and pressor management during capillary leak
  • Stop IL-2 doses for evolving organ dysfunction
  • Tumor-lysis prophylaxis through conditioning

Renal dose adjustment

Lifileucel itself is a one-time cell infusion with no renal dose adjustment. The renal-relevant levers are the conditioning regimen: fludarabine requires dose reduction in renal impairment (it is renally cleared and accumulates), and high-dose IL-2 dosing is governed by real-time hemodynamic/organ tolerance rather than a fixed CrCl threshold.

Dialyzability & ESKD dosing

The TIL product is not dialyzable. Among conditioning agents, fludarabine's active metabolite is partly dialyzable but timing is not standardized; IL-2 management is hemodynamic. No established protocol exists for the regimen in dialysis-dependent patients, who are generally excluded.

Differential diagnosis

Separate IL-2 capillary-leak prerenal AKI / ATN (hypotension, edema) from tumor-lysis AKI (urate/phosphate, early), fludarabine tubular effect, and neutropenic-sepsis ATN. The pattern and timing relative to IL-2 dosing usually identify the dominant mechanism.

Monitoring

  • Hourly-to-daily creatinine, urine output and weight during IL-2
  • Blood pressure and volume status (capillary leak surveillance)
  • Electrolytes, uric acid and phosphate (tumor-lysis screen) at conditioning
  • Markers of neutropenic sepsis as a competing AKI cause

Key trials & series

  • C-144-01 pooled cohorts (Chesney, J Immunother Cancer 2022) — registrational safety dataset
  • Sarnaik JCO 2021 — initial efficacy/safety report describing the IL-2 regimen

Clinical pearls

  • The kidney risk is the regimen (high-dose IL-2 + lymphodepletion), not the TIL cells.
  • IL-2 AKI is the textbook capillary-leak prerenal-to-ATN sequence and is usually reversible if IL-2 is stopped.
  • Don't forget to renally dose-reduce fludarabine — it accumulates and adds tubular toxicity.

Anticancer mechanism

Autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) expanded ex vivo and reinfused after non-myeloablative lymphodepletion (fludarabine/cyclophosphamide), followed by high-dose bolus interleukin-2 (IL-2) to support TIL persistence. Approved for advanced melanoma after progression on a PD-1 inhibitor (and BRAF-targeted therapy if BRAF-mutant).

Note

Class/regimen-based reasoning; the immunotherapy and CAR-T nephrotoxicity reviews are cited for the IL-2/cell-therapy mechanisms.

Guidelines & consensus

Each recommendation below is this atlas's faithful summary of the source, not a quotation from it — follow the PubMed link for the wording the society published. Summaries may be superseded; consult the current full text and individualize to the patient.

  • ADQI (2026) — The nephrotoxic effects of anti-cancer therapies: consensus report of the 34th Acute Disease Quality Initiative workgroupProvides expert-based statements (modified Delphi) on preventing and managing cisplatin/platinum-associated AKI, including isotonic IV hydration, attention to volume status and concomitant nephrotoxins, and incorporates evidence that IV magnesium supplementation may reduce cisplatin-associated AKI; emphasizes risk stratification and standardized AKI definitions.Nat Rev Nephrol · PMID 41361704
  • SIRM (2022) — SIRM-SIN-AIOM: appropriateness criteria for evaluation and prevention of renal damage in the patient undergoing contrast medium examinations-consensus statements from Italian College of Radiology (SIRM), Italian College of Nephrology (SIN) and Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM)Recommends eGFR-based renal risk assessment and pre/post-contrast isotonic saline or sodium bicarbonate hydration; advises maintaining a 5-7 day interval between iodinated contrast administration and cisplatin in cancer patients to reduce additive nephrotoxicity.Radiol Med · PMID 35303246
  • KDIGO (2020) — KDIGO Controversies Conference on onco-nephrology: understanding kidney impairment and solid-organ malignancies, and managing kidney cancerIdentifies platinum compounds (especially cisplatin) as leading cytotoxic causes of acute tubular injury, AKI, and electrolyte/magnesium wasting; calls for interdisciplinary onco-nephrology care, accurate GFR estimation, and individualized drug dosing in patients with reduced kidney function.Kidney Int · PMID 33126977
  • KDIGO (2020) — KDIGO Controversies Conference on onco-nephrology: kidney disease in hematological malignancies and the burden of cancer after kidney transplantationAddresses chemotherapy-associated AKI/CKD in hematologic cancer, GFR estimation and chemotherapy dosing in patients with reduced kidney function, and management priorities and research gaps for onco-nephrology care.Kidney Int · PMID 33276867
  • ADDIKD (2025) — Integrating International Consensus Guidelines for Anticancer Drug Dosing in Kidney Dysfunction (ADDIKD) into everyday practiceProvides GRADE-based, drug-specific dose-adjustment recommendations for anticancer agents in kidney dysfunction (illustrated for methotrexate, cisplatin, carboplatin and nivolumab); the recommendations build on Part 1's standardised CKD-EPI eGFR assessment rather than Cockcroft-Gault creatinine clearance.EClinicalMedicine · PMID 40290844
  • ADDIKD (2025) — Aligning kidney function assessment in patients with cancer to global practices in internal medicineThree consensus recommendations: assess kidney function by GFR (measured GFR or CKD-EPI eGFR), classify it using KDIGO categories, and use this uniform approach to dose anticancer drugs — moving cancer medicine away from Cockcroft-Gault estimated creatinine clearance.EClinicalMedicine · PMID 40290845
  • ADDIKD (2025) — A methodology for determining dosing recommendations for anticancer drugs in patients with reduced kidney functionEstablishes that, where RCT evidence is lacking, anticancer drug dosing recommendations in kidney dysfunction should be derived by critically appraising observational literature via GRADE combined with structured international multidisciplinary consensus voting.EClinicalMedicine · PMID 40290846
  • KDIGO (2013) — Diagnosis, evaluation, and management of acute kidney injury: a KDIGO summary (Part 1)Defines/stages AKI by serum creatinine and urine output; emphasizes avoiding nephrotoxins, maintaining euvolemia/perfusion, dose-adjusting drugs to kidney function, and monitoring high-risk patients — the framework applied to nephrotoxic anti-cancer agents.Crit Care · PMID 23394211
  • KDIGO (2024) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2024 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Chronic Kidney Disease: known knowns and known unknownsEvaluate and risk-stratify CKD, manage to delay progression and its complications, and practise explicit medication management and drug stewardship — the framework the atlas's G1–G5 eGFR banding and every renal dose-adjustment recommendation sit inside. Because the guideline excludes dialysis and transplant recipients by its own statement of scope, its recommendations do not carry to those settings, where this atlas's dialyzability and post-transplant guidance rests on other sources.Kidney Int · PMID 38519239
  • KDIGO (2021) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2021 Guideline for the Management of Glomerular DiseasesProvides the staging/treatment framework for drug-associated glomerular lesions (e.g., bisphosphonate- and interferon-related collapsing FSGS, VEGF-inhibitor podocytopathy/proteinuria), including immunosuppression and supportive RAAS-blockade strategies.Kidney Int · PMID 34556300
  • KDIGO (2024) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2024 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of ANCA-Associated VasculitisUpdates immunosuppressive induction (rituximab/cyclophosphamide), incorporates avacopan and lower-dose or glucocorticoid-sparing regimens — the management framework for drug- and checkpoint-inhibitor-associated ANCA/pauci-immune glomerulonephritis.Kidney Int · PMID 38388147
  • KDIGO (2024) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2024 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Lupus NephritisUpdates first-line lupus nephritis therapy to combination immunosuppression with the addition of belimumab or a calcineurin inhibitor (voclosporin) — informs management of immune-complex/lupus-like glomerulonephritis encountered with immunotherapy.Kidney Int · PMID 38182299
  • KDIGO (2025) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2025 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy (IgAN) and Immunoglobulin A Vasculitis (IgAV)Encourages liberal kidney biopsy and stricter proteinuria control (<0.5 g/d, ideally <0.3 g/d) with RAAS blockers, SGLT2 inhibitors, and targeted-release budesonide — the framework for IgA-dominant glomerular lesions, including those triggered by immune-modulating cancer therapy.Kidney Int · PMID 40975525

References

6 peer-reviewed references. Citation metadata via PubMed / NLM.

  1. 1.Lifileucel, a Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte Therapy, in Metastatic Melanoma.Sarnaik AA et al. · J Clin Oncol · 2021 · PMID 33979178
  2. 2.Efficacy and safety of lifileucel, a one-time autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) cell therapy, in patients with advanced melanoma after progression on immune checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies: pooled analysis of consecutive cohorts of the C-144-01 study.Chesney J et al. · J Immunother Cancer · 2022 · PMID 36600653
  3. 3.Nephrotoxicity of Cancer Immunotherapies: Past, Present and Future.Perazella MA et al. · J Am Soc Nephrol · 2018 · PMID 29959196
  4. 4.Acute kidney injury following CAR-T cell therapy: a nephrologist's perspective.Kanbay M et al. · Clin Kidney J · 2024 · PMID 39781479
  5. 5.Nephrotoxicity in CAR-T Cell Therapy.Sadowski K et al. · Transplant Cell Ther · 2025 · PMID 40107382
  6. 6.Tumour lysis syndrome.Howard SC et al. · Nat Rev Dis Primers · 2024 · PMID 39174582
Educational monograph from NephTox (nephtox.com). Not medical advice — verify against current guidelines before any clinical decision.