CIMM at the Annual Meeting
The Annual Meeting is an extraordinary venue that fosters scientific discussions and helps build bridges across various disciplines. We encourage all CIMM members to take advantage of the opportunities presented at the Meeting to learn about the latest breakthroughs in cancer immunology, attend sessions outside your own areas of expertise, and network with other scientists and clinicians interested in cancer immunology and immunotherapy.
- Mark your calendars! The 2009 AACR Annual Meeting will convene April 18 - 22, 2009, in Denver, CO.
Town Hall and Reception 
Sunday, April 19, 2009
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Hyatt Regency Denver, Mineral D - E
All interested 2009 Annual Meeting registrants are invited to attend CIMM's 2nd Annual Town Hall and Reception, Sunday, April 19, 2009. The Town Hall Meeting provides an opportunity for attendees to learn about the Working Group, meet the members of the Steering Committee, connect with old colleagues and meet new ones, and contribute ideas to help shape future CIMM initiatives.
Last year's Town Hall was a tremendous success, attracting over 100 cancer immunologists. Dr. Louis M. Weiner, CIMM Steering Committee Chairperson, reviewed the history of the Working Group, discussed the importance of immunology in cancer research, highlighted CIMM's achievements, and revealed new events being planned for the Working Group.
Inaugural Evening Scientific Session
"Immune Regulatory Antibodies for Cancer Therapy"
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
Colorado Convention Center, Room 702 - 706
CIMM Members and all other interested Annual Meeting registrants are encouraged to attend the Working Group's first Evening Scientific Session.
Tumor cells arise from carcinogenic events that dysregulate growth control in a normal cell. In order to survive cancerous cells also acquire properties that help them escape immune control by the host. Monoclonal antibodies have spurred a new era of research to address either the growth potential or immunosuppressive nature of tumors. To date, most commercially-available antibodies have directly targeted tumors. One of the recent successes in translational oncology centers on the ability of immune-modulating antibodies to manipulate immune responses in cancer patients. This session will describe exciting preclinical and clinical developments related to monoclonal antibodies that act as agonists to costimulatory receptors or as antagonists to inhibitory receptors. In addition, the contributions of Fc receptors and immune complexes to the induction of adaptive immunity through dendritic cell/T cell priming will be addressed.
Chairperson: Julie Y. Djeu, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL
An activating anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody as immunotherapy for cancer
Scott J. Antonia, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL
Antibody therapy in cancer: conversion of passive to active immunity
Raphael Clynes, Columbia University Department of Medicine, New York, NY
Antigen storage compartments in mature dendritic cells facilitate prolonged CTL cross-priming after ingestion of immune complexes
Ferry Ossendorp, Leiden University. Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
AACR Special Conference
Tumor Immunology
Chairpersons: Louis M. Weiner, Olivera J. Finn, Dmitry I. Gabrilovich, and Alexander M. M. Eggermont
December 2 - 5, 2008
Hyatt Regency Miami, FL
In November 2006, AACR in collaboration with the AACR Cancer Immunology Task Force, hosted its first Special Conference on Tumor Immunology. The conference was a great success, attracting over 300 participants—scientists, clinicians, young investigators, and students—from across the globe.
The 2008 Special Conference on Tumor Immunology was developed in collaboration with the Cancer Immunology Working Group. Topics included mechanisms of immune surveillance, antibodies in cancer immunotherapy, tumor microenvironment, epigenetic regulation of tumor growth, cancer vaccines, and immune suppression in cancer. In addition to the invited talks, short talks were presented from selected proffered abstracts.
The Conference provided a remarkable opportunity for CIMM members to hear new perspectives on innate and adaptive anti-tumor immunity, regulation of anti-tumor responses, and tumor-directed immune suppression, and to network with colleagues.
View the final programs
Tumor Immunology: New Perspectives*
Tumor Immunology: An Integrated Perspective*
*Adobe Acrobat Reader required.