Program
Please Note: All session times for the AACR Virtual Meeting: Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy are U.S. Eastern Time (ET).
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Plenary Session 1: Immunometabolism
Plenary Session 2: Advances in Immune Cell Engineering
Plenary Session 3: COVID-19 Immunology in Cancer Patients
Opening Keynote Lectures
wednesday, october 6, 2021
Plenary Session 4: Interrogating the Immune Landscape of Cancer
Plenary Session 5: Therapeutic Targeting of the Tumor Microenvironment
Plenary Session 6: Technology and Systems Biology
Plenary Session 7: Combinatorial Studies to Overcome Resistance to Immunotherapy
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Plenary Session 1: Immunometabolism
Session Chair: Johanna A. Joyce, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
10 A.M.-12 P.m.
Unconventional ER stress response pro-tumorigenic polarization and survival in TAMs
Ping Chih Ho, Ludwig Institute, Lausanne, Switzerland
Tumor microenvironment metabolism in T cell differentiation and dysfunction
Greg M. Delgoffe, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
How metabolism shapes tumor-immune interactions and anti-tumor immunity
Marcia Haigis, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
Oncolytic adenoviruses expressing metabolic targets can improve viro-immunotherapy with bispecific T cell engagers through reducing acidosis in an in vitro model*
Arthur Dyer, University of Oxford, Oxford United Kingdom
The co-expression of VISTA and TIGIT on cytotoxic T cells defines subpopulation with altered immunometabolism*
Cassandra Gilmour, Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
Immuno-reactive cancer organoid models to examine microbiome metabolite effects on immune checkpoint blockade efficacy*
Ethan Shelkey, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Break
12-12:15 p.m.
Plenary Session 2: Advances in Immune Cell Engineering
Session Chair: Johanna A. Joyce, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
12:15-1:45 p.m.
Engineering enhanced persistence and anti-tumor function for therapeutic human T cells
Caroline Arber, Lausanne University Hospital, Epalinges, Switzerland
CAR NK cells: The future of cancer immunotherapy
Rafet Basar, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Chimeric antigen receptor macrophages for the treatment of solid tumors
Saar Gill, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
CRISPR-mediated PTPN2 deletion in CAR T cells enhances anti-tumor efficacy*
Xin Du, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Break
1:45-2 p.m.
Plenary Session 3: COVID-19 Immunology in Cancer Patients
Session Chair: Jennifer A. Wargo, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
2-3:15 p.m.
Impact of immunotherapy on COVID-19 immunity: Insights from checkpoint blockade in cancer
Alexander Huang, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Adaptive immune dysregulation in cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection
Santosha Vardhana, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
break
3:15-3:30 p.m.
Keynote lectures
Session Chairs: Jennifer A. Wargo, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, and Jedd D. Wolchok, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
3:30-5 p.m.
Mapping myeloid programs that control tumor immunity
Miriam Merad, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
Next generation CAR T cells to overcome resistance
Crystal L. Mackall, Stanford University, Stanford, California
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2021
Plenary Session 4: Interrogating the Immune Landscape of Cancer
Session Chair: Johanna A. Joyce, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
10 A.M-12:00 P.m.
The immune contexture and its impact on cancer treatment
Jérôme Galon, INSERM, Paris, France
Cancer evolution: Chromosomal instability and immune evasion
Charles Swanton, Francis Crick Institute, London, England
Predicting clonal evolution in pancreatic cancer survivors
Marta Luksza, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
Lymph node colonization promotes distant tumor metastasis through the induction of tumor-specific immune tolerance*
Nathan Reticker-Flynn, Stanford University, Menlo Park, California
Reprogramming of naïve B cells in pancreatic cancer subverts humoral immunity*
Yuliya Pylayeva-Gupta, University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Quiescent cancer cells form immunotherapy resistant reservoirs by forming an immune suppressive niche*
Judith Agudo, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
Break
12:00-12:15 p.m.
Plenary Session 5: Therapeutic Targeting of the Tumor
Session Chairs: Johanna A. Joyce, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, and Jennifer A. Wargo, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Exploring and therapeutically targeting the tumor microenvironment in brain cancers
Johanna A. Joyce
Targeting tumor associated macrophages for cancer therapy
Jennifer L. Guerriero, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Immune suppression in cancer and strategies for its reversal
Rosandra Kaplan, National Cancer Institute/ National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Context is everything: Microbiota-specific T follicular helper cells in colorectal cancer*
Abigail Overacre-Delgoffe, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Macrophage promotion of anti-androgen resistance in prostate cancer bone disease*
Binzhi Qian, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
break
2:00-2:15 p.m.
Plenary Session 6: Technology and Systems Biology
Session Chair: Jennifer A. Wargo, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
2:15-3:30 p.m.
The power of ONE: Immunology in the age of single cell genomics
Ido Amit, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
Cancer metabolism: Emerging insights from single cell analysis
Jason W. Locasale, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Mapping the dynamics of immunotherapy to quantify tumor antigenicity
Grégoire Altan-Bonnet, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland
Break
3:30-3:45 P.M.
Plenary Session 7: Combinatorial Studies to Overcome Resistance to Immunotherapy
Session Chairs: Jennifer A. Wargo, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, and Jedd D. Wolchok, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
3:45-5:15 p.m.
What does not kill it makes it stronger: Acquired resistance to anti-MAPK targeted therapy confers an immune-evasive tumor microenvironment and cross-resistance to immunotherapy
Anna C. Obenauf, Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Vienna, Austria
Understanding responses to cancer therapy: The tissue is the issue, the scoop is in the poop, and you are what you eat
Jennifer A. Wargo
Immunotherapy for melanoma: Checkpoint blockade combinations
Jedd D. Wolchok
Inhibition of MEK1/2 overcomes resistance to aPD-1 blockade in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma through modulation of NETosis in tumor-associated neutrophils*
Brian Herbst, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland
*Short talk from proffered abstract