Abstract
The 28th annual meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) was held November 8–10, 2013 in National Harbor MD, and was organized by Paolo Ascierto (Instituto Nazionale Tumori – Fondazione 'G. Pascale’), David Munn (Georgia Regent’s University), A. Karolina Palucka (Baylor Institute for Immunology Research) and Paul Sondel (University of Wisconsin). This meeting included over 1100 registered participants from 32 separate countries, making it the largest SITC meeting held to date. It highlighted significant worldwide progress in the development and application of cancer immunology to the practice of clinical oncology, including advances in diagnosis, prognosis and therapy, utilizing a variety of immunological pathways and mechanisms for a variety of oncologic conditions. Presentations and posters demonstrated that many concepts that had been pursued preclinically in the past are now being translated into clinical practice, with clear benefits for patients. One month after this 28th annual meeting, the Journal Science selected the field of Cancer Immunotherapy as the overall #1 scientific “breakthrough” for 2013.
Highlights
For over a century, immunology researchers have speculated that the immune mechanisms that are able to provide protection from pathogens, destroy transplanted allogeneic organs, or cause tissue destruction in the form of autoimmune disorders, might be directed selectively against cancer in the form of cancer immunotherapy
Responding tumors showed increased CD8+ and Th1 responses over baseline, and a concomitant increase in PD-L1 expression; whereas non-responders showed little inflammatory response in the tumor. These findings suggested that the baseline level of spontaneous T cell immune response against the tumor might be driving counterregulatory PD-L1 expression, and became able to drive the response to therapy when PD-L1 was blocked
In a phase I study in non-small-cell lung cancer, the best overall response rate to PD-L1 blockade was seen in patients with more than 10% tumor immune cells positive for PD-L1
Summary
Immunology researchers have speculated that the immune mechanisms that are able to provide protection from pathogens, destroy transplanted allogeneic organs, or cause tissue destruction in the form of autoimmune disorders, might be directed selectively against cancer in the form of cancer immunotherapy. In patients receiving combination therapy, increased numbers of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells expressing activation and proliferation markers were observed while a higher overall response rate correlated with low pre-treatment levels of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) in an exploratory single-center subset analysis. In a phase I study in non-small-cell lung cancer, the best overall response rate to PD-L1 blockade was seen in patients with more than 10% tumor immune cells positive for PD-L1 These findings are consistent with the data that pre-treatment PD-L1 expression suggests increased likelihood of response to nivolumab monotherapy. Cancer immunotherapy approaches targeting negative regulatory immune checkpoints might be preferentially beneficial for patients with a pre-existing T cell-inflamed tumor microenvironment, with IL-2 production and proliferation of CD8+ TIL potential biomarkers to be investigated in regard to clinical response to immunotherapy. This record indicates the success of the CITN in its initial mission, and the importance of making these promising experimental agents available to the academic research community, through partnership with the NCI and Industry, as facilitated by this collaborative CITN network
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