Jacob J. Adashek, DO, of the University of South Florida and Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses data on combining immunoregulatory inhibition and targeted gene therapy, which may offer patients better outcomes (Abstract 10).
John N. Lukens, MD, of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses his finding that taking antibiotics within 3 months of starting treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors may lead to inferior overall survival in patients with stage III or IV melanoma. The antibiotics were also linked to a higher incidence of severe immune-mediated colitis (Abstract 56).
Martin McCarter, MD, of the University of Colorado Denver, discusses the recent strides in surgical oncology, how the role of surgery has changed, and what lies ahead for this staple of cancer therapy.
Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, summarizes a session she co-chaired on utilizing the immune system in neoadjuvant trials to treat melanoma, breast, and lung cancers.
Dario Vignali, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, summarizes his Keynote Address, which covered what drives systemic immune dysfunction in patients with cancer, what promotes inhibitory receptor expression, and what limits the persistence of antigen-specific T cells.
Luis I. Ruffolo, MD, of the University of Rochester, discusses preclinical studies showing that semaphorin 4D blockade may sensitize pancreatic tumors to chemoimmunotherapy combinations (Abstract 26).
