7:30 Registration/Continental Breakfast
8:15 Chairperson's Opening Remarks
Adrian Bot, MD, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer
Kite Pharma, Inc.
8:25 Focusing Immune Monitoring Where it Matters: the Tumor Site; Genetics and Functional Genetics Considerations
Franco Marincola, MD
Chief, Infectious Disease and Immunogenetics Section
National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health
8:55 Genetic T Cell Engineering and Transfer for Treatment of Cancer
Richard Koya, MD, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Surgical Oncology
Member, JCCC Tumor Immunology Program Area
Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC), UCLA
9:25 Immunological Correlates of Long-Term Survival in Melanoma Patients
In this presentation, Dr. Pawelec will discuss the results of a study that sought to determine whether long-term cancer survivors manifest effective immune reactivity against tumour-associated antigens requisite for extended survival irregardless of the therapy they received. This study was based on Stage IV melanoma patients and analysed CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses against the 4 prominent melanoma-associated antigens NY-ESO-1, MAGE-A3, Survivin and Melan-A.
Graham Pawelec, Ph.D.
Professor of Experimental Immunology
Head of the Tuebingen Tumour Immunology and Ageing Group (TATI)
University of Tuebingen Medical School
9:55 Refreshment Break/Poster Viewing
10:15 Biomarker-Guided Clinical Development of Multi-Peptide Renal and Colorectal Cancer Vaccines
This presentation will show how immunomonitoring and biomarker analyses can guide rational clinical development by:
- Performing immunomonitoring analyses in multi-center clinical trials to show the biologic mechanism of action
- Performing biomarker analyses to select immunomodulatory agents
- Performing biomarker analyses to define responding patient populations
Steffen Walter, Ph.D.
Head of Immunology
Immatics Biotechnologies
10:45 Identification of Markers in Efficacy in Cancer Patients Treated with TroVax (MVA-5T-4)
Few immunotherapy compounds have demonstrated a clear link between the predicted mode of action of the product and clinical benefit. Furthermore, active immunotherapeutics are believed to have a delayed therapeutic effect, therefore an early marker of efficacy would be valuable. Data from a phase III trial of TroVax in renal cancer patients has enabled a detailed investigation of early predictors of treatment benefit. Antibodies, induced by vaccination, against the tumour antigen 5T4 correlated strongly with enhanced patient survival.
In this presentation, Dr. Harrop will describe the development of an “immune response surrogate” (IRS) using pre-treatment factors which are readily measured in each patient. The IRS showed a significant correlation with the magnitude of the induced 5T4 antibody response and treatment benefit. The IRS has also been successfully applied to an independent dataset comprising patients with renal, colorectal and prostate cancer.
Richard Harrop, D.Phil.
Head of Clinical Analysis
Oxford Biomedica
11:15 Genomics as a Driver of a New Generation of Immunotherapies of Human Cancer
Genomics technologies are transforming our ability to peer into the human tumor transcriptome in an unprecedented way. The results from genomic analyses present new opportunities and challenges. The presentation will highlight both these aspects. Specifically, the presentation will show the results of genomic analyses from a mouse model of cancer, that reveal the cancer immunome in an unprecedented manner. Translation of this manner of analysis into the human situation shall be discussed.
Pramod Srivastava, Ph.D., MD
Professor of Immunology
Physicians Health Services Chair in Cancer Immunology
Director, Center for Immunotherapy of Cancer and Infectious Diseases
University of Connecticut Health Center
11:45 Lunch
12:55 Panel Session: Biomarkers and Cancer Immunotherapies: Measuring Success in Clinical Development
This session will explore the use of biomarkers in clinical development of novel cancer immunotherapies. Evidence suggests that biomarkers are becoming an increasingly important tool in monitoring the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies. Panelists will discuss the current status of biomarker development and their future prospects in immunotherapy.
Steffen Walter, Ph.D.
Head of Immunology
Immatics Biotechnologies
Franco Marincola, MD
Chief, Infectious Disease and Immunogenetics Section
National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health
1:40 Novel Vaccine Platforms for Active Cancer Immunotherapy
Dr. Ramirez-Montagut will discuss the development of novel technologies that break tolerance and induce robust humoral and cellular immunity to tumor/self-antigens.
Teresa Ramirez-Montagut, MD, Ph.D.
Research Investigator, Cancer Vaccine Initiative
Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation
2:10 The Efficacy of Immunotherapy Challenged by the Immunologic Heterogeneity of Host and Tumor
Immunologic heterogeneity is the essence of human biology in contrast with experimental biology. Variants that may contribute to this heterogeneity are often underappreciated and have been perceived as an impediment to “good” science. Those variables make coherent identification of relevant themes predictive of success of immunotherapy a daunting task. A well designed study should consider all possible variants and their correlation with clinical outcome. Dr. Wang will discuss the immunologic heterogeneity in normal people and in the context of the complexity in cancer immunotherapy.
Ena Wang, MD
Director of Molecular Science
Infectious Diseases and Immunogenetics Section, Department of Transfusion Medicine, CC
National Institutes of Health
2:40 Challenges and Lessons Learned from the Provenge Clinical Development and Approval Process
This presentation will cover the following:
- Introduction to prostate cancer
- Development of sipuleucel-T (PROVENGE)
- Clinical results
- Regulatory milestones
- Immune responses to sipuleucel-T
- Lessons learned
- Future clinical trials
Candice McCoy, MD
Senior Medical Director
Dendreon Corporation
3:10 End of Conference