Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018
8 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Program Purpose
Recently, the concept that the intestinal microbiota determines the efficacy of anticancer immunotherapies has been proven by epidemiological associations in clinical studies, as well as by experiments in mouse models. The microbiota offers new prognostic biomarkers as it promises to become the target for future antineoplastic treatments. Over the past few years, a multidimensional network of functional connections between the gut microbiome, intestinal physiology, whole-body metabolism, the immune system and neoplastic disease has emerged. An initial exploration of this new research space has become possible due to rampant technological progress, including, but not limited to improved high-throughput microbiome sequencing technologies aided by refined databases; culturomics to render an ever-growing portion of the microbiota cultivatable and hence investigable; mass spectrometry and single-cell transcriptomics for an in-depth characterization of individual enteric, immune or neoplastic cells; high-throughput metabolomics applicable to distinct organs; and, last but not least, sophisticated bioinformatics tools for data deconvolution and integration. Thus, recent progress has been marked by methodological advances that allowed description of the impact of individual bacterial species on the intestinal barrier and organism-wide immune responses. SITC presented major advances reported in 2016-2017 and future prospects of the microbiome space in cancer therapy.
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Program Organizers
- Jennifer A. Wargo, MD, MMSC – University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Laurence Zitvogel, MD, PhD – Institute Gustave Roussy
Intended Audience
The intended audience for this annual, one-day program included basic scientists and clinical investigators from academic institutions, venture capitals, industry and regulatory agencies. Additional audiences benefiting from this program included clinicians, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows involved in cancer research and its translation into clinical practice.
Educational Objectives
Upon completion of this meeting, participants are able to:
- Explain gut oncomicrobiome signatures relevant in cancer immunotherapy
- Clarify mode of action of commensals in the setting of cancer therapies in solid and hematologic malignancies
- Describe nutrition and microbiome changes and clinical outcome
- Identify inflammatory links between microbiome shifts and colorectal cancer
The Workshop on Nutrition, Metabolism and the Microbiome in Cancer Therapy was supported in part by grants from AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Celgene Corporation and The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.