Advances in Immune Checkpoints, Cell-based Therapies, Clinical Biomarkers and Innovative Technologies Among Research to be Unveiled
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 1, 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Groundbreaking research that will lead to the next generation of cancer immunotherapies – treatments that harness the power of a patient’s own immune system to eliminate cancer – will be presented during the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s (SITC) 33rd Annual Meeting (SITC 2018) on Nov. 9-11, 2018.
SITC 2018, the leading destination for scientific exchange, education and networking in the cancer immunotherapy field, will feature research centered on defining the underlying science that will fuel the development of increasingly effective and safe cancer immunotherapeutics. Presentations at this year’s Annual Meeting will highlight data from more than 30 in-progress clinical trials testing novel single-agent and combination immunotherapies, as well as a variety of exciting pre-clinical research that will provide the scientific foundation to help increase the number of patients who respond to these treatments.
“Immunotherapy has clearly cemented its role in oncology by providing many cancer patients with significant antitumor responses. The Nobel Prize to Dr. James Allison and Prof. Tasuku Honjo this year further shows the importance and contributions of our field,” said SITC President Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD. “SITC 2018 will bring together thousands of professionals from academia, industry, healthcare and government to help cancer patients, consistent with our long history of leading the charge in advancing cancer immunotherapy education, development and accessibility across the globe.”
Leading researchers will also present pre-clinical research to identify clinical biomarkers that can assist with treatment selection and development, to elucidate the biological and environmental relationships between a patient’s healthy and cancerous cells, and to develop novel technologies that can provide a foundation for future immunotherapies to be built upon. Clinical research sessions will feature disease-specific break-outs that focus on the most recent breakthroughs in settings, including melanoma and lung cancer, among others, as well as advancements in patient management protocols to enhance the safety of immunotherapeutic treatment.
Additionally, SITC 2018 will help strengthen the recent and rapid momentum concerning cell-based immunotherapies that have demonstrated remarkable success in treating patients with blood cancers. On Friday, Nov. 9, Nicholas Restifo, MD (National Cancer Institute), will discuss what the future of cellbased immunotherapies may look like in his keynote presentation, “NextGen Cell-based Immunotherapies.” On Saturday, Nov. 10, Philip D. Greenberg, MD (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center), the 2018 recipient of the Richard V. Smalley, MD, Memorial Award and Lectureship, SITC’s highest honor, will discuss efforts toward expanding cell-based immunotherapies as an option for all cancer patients in his keynote presentation, “Engineering T cells to Effectively Target Tumors and Overcome Obstacles to Achieving Tumor Eradication.”
“Research presented at SITC 2018 will showcase single-agent and combination treatments that have the potential to further improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as exciting pre-clinical data that give insights into the mechanisms of tumor immunity and could lead to new agents and approaches in the clinic,” said SITC Incoming President Mario Sznol, MD, who is also Chair of the SITC Annual Meeting Program Committee. “The data presented at SITC 2018 will further highlight how the collaboration between pre-clinical and clinical science can continue to shape the future of immune therapies and increase patient response across the spectrum of malignancies.”
Online registration is open until Nov. 1, 2018, at 11:59 p.m. PDT. Onsite registration is also accepted. To learn more about SITC 2018, review late-breaking and regular abstract titles and more, please visit the SITC 2018 Annual Meeting website. The SITC 2018 regular abstract supplement will be published online in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC), the society’s official open access, peer-reviewed journal, on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018 at 8 a.m. EST.
About SITC
Established in 1984, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) is a nonprofit organization of medical professionals dedicated to improving cancer patient outcomes by advancing the development, science and application of cancer immunotherapy and tumor immunology. SITC is comprised of influential basic and translational scientists, practitioners, health care professionals, government leaders and industry professionals around the globe. Through educational initiatives that foster scientific exchange and collaboration among leaders in the field, SITC aims to one day make the word “cure” a reality for cancer patients everywhere. Learn more about SITC, our educational offerings and other resources at sitcancer.org and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
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