World Immunotherapy Council (WIC)

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The World Immunotherapy Council (WIC) is a group of 26 organizations that promote the research and translation of cancer immunotherapy to accelerate delivery of new immune-based treatments to patients with cancer throughout the world.

Defining the Critical Hurdles in Cancer Immunotherapy

The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) strives to launch effective initiatives in order to accelerate the delivery of new immunotherapies to cancer patients around the world. In an effort led by SITC Past President Bernard Fox, PhD, a collaborative group of international and domestic organizations similarly interested in promoting research and translation of cancer immunotherapy prepared a joint publication that defines the critical hurdles in cancer immunotherapy.

The nine critical hurdles in cancer immunotherapy defined in the paper are:

  1. Limitations of Preclinical Animal Models
  2. Delayed Institutional, Administrative and Regulatory Approval
  3. Complexity of Cancer, Tumor Heterogeneity and Immune Escape
  4. Limited Availability of Reagents for Combination Immunotherapy Studies
  5. Limited Funds Available to Translate Science into Patients
  6. Lack of Definitive Biomarkers of Immune Response
  7. Conventional Response Criteria May Not Reflect the Patterns of Response to Immunotherapies
  8. Paucity of Translational Teams of Scientists and Clinicians
  9. Need to Enhance Exchange of Information Critical to Advancing the Field

This manuscript was published in the Journal of Translational Medicine. To access the full manuscript, click here.

Past Events and Outputs

2015 International Symposium on Cancer Immunotherapy: Featuring Today's Innovators, Tomorrow's Leaders

Organized in collaboration with the World Immunotherapy Council (WIC), the 2015 International Symposium on Cancer Immunotherapy provided the opportunity for young scientists and emerging leaders in the field of cancer immunotherapy from throughout the world to interact, fulfilling WIC’s mission to facilitate rapid development and global dissemination of cancer immunotherapies through scientific exchange.

The young investigators, each chosen for exemplary work in the field of cancer immunotherapy, contributed fresh insight and perspective into present and future issues surrounding immunotherapy of cancer (including immune targeting, escape, monitoring and treatments). Anticipated challenges and projected improvements as cancer immunotherapy is integrated into mainstream cancer treatment were also highlighted. Additionally, this forum provided a unique opportunity to showcase the world’s young, talented cancer immunotherapy scientists and provided an opportunity for knowledge exchange and networking with established experts.

The target audience for this program consisted of clinicians, basic and translational researchers, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and allied health professionals from academic institutions, industry and regulatory agencies who wished to learn more about the future of cancer immunotherapy research across the globe.

To learn more, click here to download reports from the Symposium.

2012 World Immunotherapy Council Summit in Curacao

In an exciting and first-of-its-kind collaboration, SITC convened the World Immunotherapy Council (WIC) inaugural summit February 21-24, 2012 in Curacao. Scientific sessions at the meeting focused on several of the hurdles identified in the "Defining the Critical Hurdles in Cancer Immunotherapy" manuscript (see above), including mechanisms of immune escape, immunological monitoring, and prognostic and predictive biomarkers. This summit provided a forum to facilitate the rapid development and global dissemination of cancer immunotherapies through international scientific exchange.

Participating Organizations

WIC Activities

  • Adoptive Engineered T cell Targeting to Activate Cancer Killing (ATTACK)
  • Association for Cancer Immunotherapy (CIMT)
  • Australian Working Group
  • Canadian Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium
  • Cancer Drug Development Forum (Biotherapy Development Association)
  • Cancer Research Institute (CIC-CRI)
  • Chinese American Hematology Oncology Network (CAHON)
  • Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO)
  • Committee for Tumor Immunology and Bio-Therapy (TIBT)
  • Dutch Tumor Immunology Working Party (DTIWP)
  • European Academy of Tumor Immunology (EATI)
  • European Society of Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy (ESCII)
  • German Cancer Immunology group in the German Immunology Society
  • Italian Network for Tumor Biotherapy (NIBIT)
  • Japanese Association of Cancer Immunology (JACI)
  • Karolinska Institutet
  • Middle Eastern and North African Interest Group
  • National Institute of Oncology, Budapest
  • Progress in Vaccination Against Cancer (PIVAC)
  • Scandinavian Network for Immunotherapy of Cancer
  • Societa Compana di ImmunoTerapia Oncologica (SCITO)
  • Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC)
  • Tehran University of Medical Sciences
  • Tumor Immunology Meets Oncology
  • Tumor Vaccine and Cell Therapy Working Group (TVACT)
  • Universidad de Nevarra