Annual Meeting • Sessions

Session 100: Lessons and Challenges from the Immunotherapy of Hematologic Malignancies: Informing the Next Generation of Cancer Immunotherapies

Organized in collaboration with the American Society of Hematology (ASH). 


In the past decade, the field of cellular therapy has emerged as a powerful treatment modality for advanced cancers refractory to conventional therapy. Genetic engineering of immune cells has evolved from a promising concept to a practical solution for the treatment of a number of previously refractory types of cancer. These exciting new therapies mark a paradigm shift in the treatment of certain hematologic malignancies, and are expected to cause a ripple effect in the field of cellular therapy and gene editing to target other cancers.

As hematologic malignancies have been on the frontline of developing novel cell-based immunotherapies with amongst the best response rates, this workshop will focus on lessons learned from these trials and how they can inform the design of next-generation clinical studies. Presentations by leaders in the field will provide an opportunity for attendees to gain a deeper understanding of the predictors and mechanisms of tumor escape, the contribution of the tumor microenvironment, and how this knowledge can be used for the development of novel immune therapeutic agents for the treatment of all types of cancer.


Thursday, Nov. 7. 2019
1:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Session 202: Autoimmunity, Toxicity and Cancer Immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapeutic approaches have revolutionized the treatment of both slid tumor and hematologic malignancies. However, a spectrum of clinically significant immune-mediated toxicities may occur as a result of these treatments. The underlying mechanisms for the development of these toxicities actively under study, and may have a range of mechanisms, and outcomes. In order to understand these toxicities better, we must apply lessons learned from the field of autoimmunity, and how these may apply to clinical and translational approaches to the toxicities that occur from cancer immunotherapy.

In this session, key leaders in the fields of autoimmunity, toxicity and cancer immunotherapy will discuss the current understanding the mechanisms of autoimmune conditions, as well as the toxicities of immunotherapy. In addition, the current clinical approaches to the diagnostic evaluation and management of cancer immunotherapy toxicities will be addressed. The speakers will then collectively discuss clinical and translational next steps in this field, as an interactive panel discussion with audience members.

Friday, Nov. 8, 2019
9:25 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Session 204: Immune Checkpoints: New Targets and Updates on Combinations

Immune checkpoint blockade, specifically CTLA-4 and PD-1, is by far one of the most effective approaches to activating therapeutic antitumor immunity. Monoclonal antibodies designed to reverse the effects of this major mechanism of immune resistance have created a revolution in cancer treatment and led to significant improvement in the survival of patients with multiple types of cancers. Deepening understanding of cancer biology and host immunology over the past few years has led to the identification of a long list of positive and negative costimulatory receptors that regulate T cell activation. These surface receptors are typically members of either the B7 or TNF receptor superfamilies where agonistic monoclonal antibodies can be utilized to enhance T cell activation. Ongoing development carries great promise and one focus is the pursuit of combinations that involve novel immune checkpoint modulators, cytokines, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Among the most advanced experimental combinations in development at this time involve a PD-1 blockade backbone and LAG3 inhibition or PD-1 blockade with NKTR-214 and both will be reviewed during this session. Further, this session will review efforts in investigating promising novel targets, namely TIM-3 and TIGIT.

Friday, Nov. 8, 2019
2 – 4:20 p.m.

Concurrent Session 205: Biology of T cells

Friday, Nov. 8, 2019
4:50 – 6:15 p.m.

Concurrent Session 207: Harnessing Antigen-Presenting Cells to Boost Anti-Tumor Immunity

Immune systems, in cancer and beyond, function as a cooperativity amongst innate and adaptive arms. Checkpoint Blockade has shown special powers in some, but not all tumors. The next frontier in understanding and targeting immune systems in cancer is Myeloid tuning. This session will focus upon the biology and targeting of this biology.

Friday, Nov. 8, 2019
4:50 – 6:15 p.m.

Concurrent Session 208: Tumor cell Atlas Efforts — Big Data

Friday, Nov. 8, 2019
4:50 – 6:15 p.m.

Concurrent Session 209: Virus Driven Cancers

Approximately 20% of the world’s cancers are caused by viruses, of which seven have been identified. The role of cancer immunotherapy in this set of virus-driven cancers is therefore of particular interest from an etiologic, diagnostic and therapeutic standpoint. Understanding mechanisms of virus-associated immune escape is crucial to designing specific interventions to stimulate innate and adaptive immunity, including immune checkpoint strategies, danger signals through TLR/NLR, and adoptive cellular therapy-based approaches. 

This session will address disease sites and organs in which both virus-driven and environmental/carcinogen-induced subsets exist, and these will be discussed and compared based on immune escape mechanisms and available preclinical and clinical data for immunotherapeutic response. In addition, this session will address selected viruses that can induce cancer in a variety of different organs and locations. Likewise, similarities and lessons for design of immunotherapies will be addressed with basic and translational science, as well as any available clinical trial data. 

Friday, Nov. 8, 2019
4:50 – 6:15 p.m.

Point Counterpoint: New Data and Controversies on Immunotherapy Combinations in First-Line Treatment of NSCLC

Treatment options for advanced non-small cell lung cancer have greatly expanded with the success of checkpoint inhibitors in this disease. Several immunotherapy-containing regimens are FDA-approved for first-line treatment of NSCLC, and many others have demonstrated promising outcomes in late-phase clinical trials. However, with the emergence of these many treatment options, many considerations and controversies have arisen. In this session, many of these points will be discussed by experts in the field, including the role of immunotherapy single agents, immunotherapy combinations, and immunotherapy plus chemotherapy in 1L NSCLC, as well as the activity of these regimens in biomarker-defined populations, such as PD-L1+ or TMB-high patients.

Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019
7 - 7:45 a.m.

Session 303: Imaging Technologies

Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019
9:45 – 11:50 a.m.

Session 305: Sparkathon Update

The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Sparkathon program brings together investigators early in their careers with various backgrounds, degrees and professional experiences to collaboratively address obstacles the field of cancer immunotherapy faces.

SITC selected a group of 28 emerging leaders (known as the SITC Sparkathon Class of 2018) in the fields of cancer immunotherapy, physical sciences, systems biology and statistics for the 2018 SITC Sparkathon.

Selected participants met Sept. 12–14, 2018, in Chicago, Ill., for a two-and-a-half-day retreat where they worked together to develop innovative solutions to hurdles the field of cancer immunotherapy faces.

During the retreat, participants worked alongside business experts to develop project proposals. A panel of SITC leaders awarded the most promising project $200,000 to implement the proposed project. The full 2018 class (all participants) will then implement the project during the following 12 months, culminating in a presentation at the society’s 34th Annual Meeting, Nov. 6–10, 2019Saturday,

Nov. 9, 2019
12:20 – 12:35 p.m.

Concurrent Session 307: Machine Learning Approaches and Applications 

The increasing capacity for high order multiplexed and quantitative molecular analysis for immunotherapy studies, in both experimental and clinical contexts, holds potential to uncover key biological aspects of the anti-tumor immune response as well as help guiding immunostimulatory anti-cancer treatments. Because the consequent extent of data available for analysis generally overmatches unaided human intuition in meeting the opportunity for comprehension, appropriate computational techniques must be brought to bear for purposes of generating prediction as well as insight.  Due to the complexity of immune system components and tumor-immune interactions, the traditional hypothesis-driven approaches using relatively small and narrowly-defined problem settings are unlikely to provide definitive solutions.  Instead, data-driven strategies using “reverse engineering” inference from observed and larger datasets, are likely to be more productive for complex and more realistic problem settings.  The term ‘machine learning’ is largely synonymous with this data-driven, reverse engineering category, comprising a diverse range of algorithmic frameworks capable of addressing a variety of problems aimed at inferring key aspects of immune system operation in data-rich application contexts.

This session will offer presentations on key aspects of machine learning approaches germane for cancer immunotherapy applications.  These will demonstrate its uses across a spectrum of immune system analysis problems: identifying clinical biomarkers; characterizing relevant cell types and behaviors in tissue and blood; ascertaining molecular features of critical immune responses; and learning for preclinical to clinical translation.


Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019
3:45 – 5 p.m.

Concurrent Session 308: Clinical Management

Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019
3:45 – 5 p.m.

Concurrent Session 311: A Tale of Two Brain Tumors: Primary versus Metastatic CNS Tumors

Recent reports from initial clinical studies suggest striking differences of response to checkpoint blockade therapy in primary vs. metastatic brain cancer patients. Impressively, combination therapy using ipilimumab + nivolumab for metastatic melanoma in the brain showed 57% overall intracranial benefit rate (Tawbi HA et al. NEJM 2018), while early data shows minimal benefit of this combination in recurrent glioblastoma. Emerging data also suggests a role for neoadjuvant PD-1 blockade in glioblastoma. Do these observations suggest that the brain as an anatomical site does not necessarily limit anti-tumor immune responses? – Do the different response rates rather suggest that major challenges lie in the intrinsic nature of tumor types? – In this session, we will discuss these key questions to gain greater insight for the development of effective and safe immunotherapy strategies for these highly challenging tumors. 

Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019
5:15 – 6:30 p.m.

Concurrent Session 312: NK Cells: From Basic Science to Clinical Application

Natural killer cells exhibit cytotoxicity against tumor cells of diverse tissue types, including most solid and hematologic cancers. Numerous studies demonstrate additional roles in recruiting and activating dendritic cells (DC) through the production of chemokines and hematopoietins which in turn can activate T cell responses. Recognition of tumor cells by NK cells depends on engagement of activating receptors by ligands displayed by many kinds of tumors, including those that have a low mutational burden. More effective NK cell activation occurs when expression of MHC I molecules by tumor cells is depressed or extinguished, as commonly occurs in cancer, in part because T cells specific for tumor antigens select for loss of one or more MHC I molecule by tumors. Therefore, the potential for NK-mediated destruction of tumors extends to many types of tumors that may be resistant to therapies designed to mobilize T cell responses. Despite this potential, NK cells usually fail to prevent cancer and are found within many tumors in a dysfunctional state. As is the case for T cells, researchers in the NK cell field are probing mechanisms whereby NK cells are activated in cancer and conversely processes that inactivate them within tumors, with the expectation that targeting these mechanisms can be employed to increase the effectiveness of NK cells therapeutically. Other studies, including early trials, are exploring the effectiveness of NK cellular therapy. 

 The session will include mechanistic analyses of how NK cells recognize and target tumors cells, the status of NK cell activation in human cancer and murine models of cancer, and studies of potential therapeutic mobilization of NK cells.

Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019
5:15 – 6:30 p.m.

Concurrent Session 313: Immunotherapy Advances in Skin Cancer

Advanced skin cancers, including both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC), had historically been associated with dismal outcomes, until the recent advances in systemic therapy. Immunotherapy using immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) has led to dramatic improvement in survival and has even led to durable complete remissions in a subset of patients with distant metastatic disease. The success in metastatic setting is percolating to earlier stages with promising outcomes in the adjuvant arena in patients with high-risk of recurrence. Unfortunately, a substantial proportion of patients do not derive benefit from immunotherapy and there is a strong unmet need for finding effective immunotherapy options in patients without durable responses to ICIs.

In this session, we review the progress in immunotherapy of melanoma, in both metastatic as well as adjuvant settings. We also review the emerging immunotherapy options in ICI-refractory patients. Lastly, we review the emerging success of immunotherapy in treatment of NMSC, including Merkel cell carcinoma, Squamous cell carcinoma and Basal cell carcinomas.

Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019
5:15 – 6:30 p.m.

Concurrent Session 314: Tumor and Stromal Cell Biology

Tumors are not comprised solely of cancer cells, and are better described as multicellular organs, composed of multiple cell types that interact with each other and participate in all stages of tumor progression and metastasis.

This session will focus on recent advances in our understanding of the role of stromal cells in multiple cancer types, and the complex interactions between fibroblasts and cancer cells in the microenvironment. Fibroblasts are known to support tumor growth by multiple mechanisms, including direct support of tumor cell growth, mediating tumor-promoting inflammation and modulating the extracellular matrix. In this session we will learn about the importance of aging for stromal function, and the different tasks performed by distinct fibroblast subpopulations in breast and pancreatic cancers, that drive the formation of a hospitable niche for tumor progression. Overall this session aims to deepen our understanding of the central role of stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment.


Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019
5:15 – 6:30 p.m.

Session 400: Innovations in Cellular Therapy for Therapeutically Targeting Advanced Malignancies

The remarkable clinical success of the adoptive transfer of CAR T-cells for treating advanced hematological malignancies sparks hope that analogous results may be obtainable for therapeutically targeting solid tumors. However, there remains several obstacles that will need to be overcome to improve efficacy while maintaining safety of cellular therapies. In hematological malignancies, CAR-T cells are not effective in treating all patients, and can cause significant on-target, off-tumor toxicity. Such therapies are also highly personalized, which impact variability in efficacy and overall manufacturing expense. Lastly, clinical responses are not always not durable and treating solid tumors with cell therapies pose additional challenges due to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Indeed, as will be discussed, proof-of-principle studies in very few patients with T cells that express T cell receptors specific to neoepitopes may have significant potential benefit for treating solid tumors. A deeper understanding of the factors that impact success and failure of adoptive cell based therapies will inform innovative strategies for the benefit of more patients.

This session strives to integrate cutting-edge and promising immune cell engineering approaches for therapeutically targeting solid and liquid cancers, with an emphasis on clinical trials. Presentations by leading physician-scientists and researchers in the fields of the universal donor cells, NK cells, CAR-T cells, and personalized neoepitope-specific T cells will provide a state of the art of the field of cell therapy for immunologically targeting cancer. 

Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019
8:05 – 10:15 a.m.

Session 402: Hot Topic Symposium: Modifable Host Factors and Immune Response

Patient responses to immunotherapy are influenced by a seemingly infinite number of factors. In this Hot Topic Symposium, the patient-specific impact on immune responses will be discussed. Modifiable lifestyle factors including obesity, exercise, nutrition, and the microbiome not only influence the development of cancer but also may impact responsiveness to various treatments. A comprehensive understanding of the myriad of immune responsiveness factors will enable strides toward personalized cancer immunotherapy, ensuring maximal benefit for the most patients.

Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Schedule At-a-Glance