President's Message - November 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Only a few days remain before The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s 35^th Anniversary Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs (SITC 2020) begins on Nov. 9, 2020. This will be our first virtual meeting, and I anticipate that all the preparation and hard work will produce the best possible meeting experience for our members and our many colleagues who will join us from around the globe. I also want to extend a warm welcome to the more than 1,300 researchers and clinicians who joined the SITC family in 2020 and I look forward to working together with you in the future.

The Annual Meeting is the highlight of the year for our society and there are always many reasons to attend, but the focus is on the new and exciting data from research spanning across the entire spectrum of cancer immunotherapy. Oral and poster presentations will cover a broad range of topics including tumor immunobiology, the tumor microenvironment, mechanisms of response and resistance to immune modulators, novel immunotherapy strategies in the clinic, and emerging clinical data from new agents and combinations.

On behalf of the society, I extend our congratulations to this year’s nominees for the Presidential Award, who will present their work on Friday, Nov. 13, beginning at 1:30 p.m. EST. These abstracts were selected from a large group of submissions and represent the work of highly motivated and talented early career investigators. This year’s nominees are:

• Defne Bayik, PhD – Cleveland Clinic
• Emily Hsiue, MD – Johns Hopkins University
• Nils-Petter Rudqvist, PhD – The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Michal Sheffer, PhD – Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

To mitigate some of the disadvantages of a virtual meeting, opportunities were created within the meeting to enhance connections with presenters. I invite you to attend the virtual poster sessions starting Nov. 9 at 8 a.m. EST hall. In these sessions, attendees can chat in real time with poster presenters during the following designated poster presentation hours:

• Odd-numbered posters: Wednesday, Nov. 11, from 5:15–5:45 p.m. EST, and Friday, Nov. 13, from 4:40–5:10 p.m. EST
• Even-numbered posters: Thursday, Nov. 12, from 4:50–5:20 p.m. EST, and Saturday, Nov. 14, from 1–1:30 p.m. EST

For a complete look at this year’s abstracts, please visit the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC), our society’s open access, peer-reviewed online journal, to view the abstract supplement that will be published as a preprint on Monday morning. Also, we extend our congratulations to JITC Editor-in-Chief Pedro J. Romero, MD, and the countless other editors, reviewers and contributors, on the recent news that the journal increased its impact factor to 10.252! This is a remarkable accomplishment in such a short period of time, and Dr. Romero has initiated an ambitious agenda to further increase the value and impact of the Journal.

The SITC Annual Meeting would not be the same without The CheckPoints party, so join in to hear them on Friday, Nov. 13, at 6 p.m. EST (through ZOOM) for a special happy hour. Don’t forget to order your limited edition T-shirt and CheckPoints Mask to support the Forward Fund.

Finally, please remember that everyone registered for SITC 2020 can now explore the SITC 2020 virtual environment. The preview continues prior to the opening of our pre-conference programs on Monday morning. Please click here to set up your profile, access the virtual exhibit hall and plan your schedule for next week.

Thank you all for your commitment to SITC. Look forward to seeing you online next week!

Sincerely, 

Mario Sznol, MD

SITC President

JITC Letter from the Editor - February 2020

Dear JITC Readers,

Welcome to the February edition of the JITC digest. The journal continues to grow and thrive, publishing impactful research across the entire spectrum of the diverse and interdisciplinary immunotherapy field. The articles in this month's digest highlight innovative approaches to overcoming longstanding challenges in cancer immunotherapy, and will surely spark important conversations moving forward.

I'm thrilled to report that this month's digest features three papers from one of the journal's new sections, Immune cell therapies and immune cell engineering—a burgeoning area that continues to push boundaries in terms of advancing scientific understanding and improving patient outcomes.

The highlighted articles feature somewhat "outside-the-box" cell therapy strategies, two of which could have exciting implications for the treatment of solid tumors. In elegant preclinical models, Rahul Suresh et al. demonstrate robust anti-tumor activity by adoptively transferred gene-edited immature myeloid cells. In a different tactic, the feasibility of generating PD-1-deficient effector memory T cells specific for melanoma antigens was demonstrated by Lucine Marotte and colleagues.

Although cell therapies have a well-established role in the treatment of hematologic malignancies, relapse remains common. In an attempt to improve outcomes, Benjamin Derman et al. demonstrate two effective strategies to significantly reduce and delay T regulatory cell recovery after autologous stem cell transplant in a pilot study of 15 patients with multiple myeloma.

In addition to the exciting articles in the cell therapy section, be sure to read the paper by Shibin Qu et al., describing a novel approach to tumor ablation that causes the release of non-denatured neoantigens and damage-associated molecular patterns capable of potentiating the efficacy of checkpoint blockade for non-immunogenic tumors in mouse models.

Our field keeps moving at a tremendous pace! If you'd like to join in to real-time conversations about the latest research and you're active on social media, be sure to take a moment to follow the official JITC Twitter handle, @jitcancer.  

Best regards,

Pedro J. Romero, MD
Editor-in-Chief, Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer

To view the entire February 2020 JITC Digest, please click here. 

President's Message - February 2020

Dear Colleagues,

One of the most important priorities for SITC and for our field is to support and train early career investigators. In 2020, we are offering six SITC Fellowships and a new, unique award, totaling $600,000 in funding.

The six fellowships are possible thanks to the strong financial commitment of our industry partners. We are again able to honor the memory of one of our members, Holbrook Kohrt, MD, PhD, via the Cancer Immunotherapy Translational Memorial Fellowship. This year’s award is the third such fellowship in remembrance of Dr. Kohrt, an assistant professor at Stanford University, known for his commitment to discover and develop novel therapies to enhance anti-tumor immunity. You can read our society’s tribute and view photos from our 2016 dedication ceremony here. For a complete listing of the available 2020 SITC Fellowships, please click here or continue reading this edition of the Immune Monitor. Applications are now open and due by Feb. 28.

SITC will also offer an additional award opportunity, the SITC-NanoString Technologies Spatial Profiling Award. This new research award will be given to a young investigator who will leverage NanoString Technologies’ GeoMx™ Digital Spatial Profiler (DSP) to perform highly multiplexed spatial profiling of RNA and proteins. Click here to learn more and apply to this award (also with a Feb. 28 deadline).

In 2020, SITC will be holding its 35^th Anniversary Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs (Nov. 10–14 in National Harbor, Md.). As the field and our meeting has grown, so has the need for several more focused meetings throughout the year on key emerging areas of interest and importance. We’ve seen remarkable advances in tumor-targeted immunotherapy technology including CAR-T cells and antibody-drug conjugates and anticipate that identifying additional tumor-specific cell surface targets will further enable development of these types of agents. This year we will hold our first meeting on Interrogating the Tumor-Specific Surfaceome for Immune Targeting Workshop, taking place April 23–24 in San Diego (click here to register now). The tumor-specific surfaceome workshop will provide opportunities for investigators to present their research and will allow attendees to share their work with fellow experts in the field. Those whose abstracts are not selected for oral presentation will have the opportunity to present their work as a poster. Abstracts for this workshop are due by Feb. 28 at 5 p.m. PST. Click here to submit your abstract. Encore presentations are welcome!

Beyond the science, SITC will be expanding its efforts to promote professional development for its members. Following last year’s successful inaugural event, the society’s Women in Cancer Immunotherapy Network (WIN) Leadership Institute returns this summer, and will grow to two programs, one in Seattle (July 13–14) and one in Chicago (Aug. 3–4). Women interested in applying to attend either program are invited to submit an application by March 9 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

Finally, I would like to offer well-deserved congratulations to the SITC members, led by SITC Past President Howard L. Kaufman, MD, FACS, for their recent manuscript, Defining Current Gaps in Quality Measures for Cancer Immunotherapy: Consensus Report from the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2019 Quality Summit, as published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC). The article addresses optimal application of cancer immunotherapy for patient benefit, and serves as SITC’s initial formal effort to further define and standardize quality delivery of cancer immunotherapy. I look forward to our society’s continued work in this important area.

Sincerely,

Mario Sznol, MD
SITC President

JITC Letter from the Editor - January 2020

Dear JITC Readers,

Welcome to the first JITC Digest of 2020! The past decade has seen cancer immunotherapy advance to an incredible degree, and the pace of innovation is not looking to slow down any time soon. It is an exciting time for the field and for the journal as JITC continues to expand and evolve to serve the community.

To support our continued growth, JITC has partnered with a new publisher, BMJ, which will allow the journal to offer an improved experience for authors, editors, reviewers and readers at all steps during the publication process. You can read more about the transition in a special editorial in the January issue.

Additionally, JITC will now offer two new sections focusing on exciting emerging areas in our field: Immune Cell Therapy and Immune Cell Engineering, edited by Dr. Marcela V Maus, and Oncolytic Immunotherapy, edited by Dr. Howard L Kaufman. We’re thrilled to help usher these important and innovative approaches into more widespread clinical use.

The highlighted papers in this month’s digest truly exemplify the tremendous pace of advancement within the cancer immunotherapy field, especially in the area of immune checkpoints. When the journal was first established in 2013, no agents targeting the programmed death (PD)-1 receptor or its ligand had been approved by the FDA and now checkpoint blockade has become a mainstay in the treatment of numerous malignancies.

Kidney cancer is one such disease for which checkpoint blockade has radically altered the treatment landscape, motivating SITC to update its Cancer Immunotherapy Guidelines. You can read the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer consensus statement on immunotherapy for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma by Brian Rini et al. in this issue.

And our understanding of immune checkpoints continues to progress. Almost every aspect in the translational research pipeline is represented in the manuscripts in this month’s digest, including characterization of the tumor microenvironment, pre-clinical validation for two novel checkpoint blockade strategies, and the first retrospective study of the tolerability of anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 therapy in patients with pre-existing or newly diagnosed paraneoplastic syndromes.

With best regards,

Pedro J. Romero, MD
Editor-in-Chief, Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer

To view the entire January 2020 JITC Digest, please click here. 

President's Message - October 2019

Dear Colleagues,

In one month, the SITC family will gather once again, in National Harbor, Md., to hear the latest research in tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy as presented by many of the world’s foremost experts in the field. I am looking forward to welcoming you all to this reunion, our society’s 34^th Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs (SITC 2019). Regular abstract titles and author information were released on Tuesday, Oct. 1, and late-breaking abstract titles will be published on Nov. 1.

The complete SITC 2019 schedule continues to expand. There are so many reasons to attend; the latest advances in tumor immunobiology, state-of-the-art translational studies, results from early clinical trials, interactions with colleagues in government, academia, and industry, and of course, party with The CheckPoints. I’d like to highlight several recent additions to our annual event that will give you even more reasons to attend.

The first is a special session to focus on Lessons and Challenges from the Immunotherapy of Hematologic Malignancies: Informing the Next Generation of Cancer Immunotherapies. This is an exciting collaboration with the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and will kick-off the 34^th Annual Meeting proceedings on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, from 1-5 p.m. ET. We will also live stream the session to a global audience, inviting those to attend who cannot join us in National Harbor. I want to convey a special thank you to co-chairs, Katayoun Rezvani, MD, PhD (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), and John M. Timmerman, MD (University of California, Los Angeles), who will lead the discussions during the session. To learn more about the session and to register for this live webcast opportunity, please click here.

Another highly anticipated program is this year’s Hot Topic Symposium on the final day of the SITC Annual Meeting, “Patient Impact on Immune Responses.” Chaired by Jennifer A. Ligibel, MD (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) and Jennifer McQuade, MD, MS, MA, LAc (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), this symposium will explore the many factors that can impact a patient’s anti-tumor immune response, including body mass index, gender, genetics, the microbiome and diet. A greater understanding of these factors will further personalize and optimize immunotherapy approaches for all cancer patients.

With what I believe reflects the excitement and promise of our field for cancer patients and our society’s efforts to advance the field and support our members, membership in SITC continues to grow. More clinical and laboratory investigators, clinicians, industry professionals and others are joining the SITC family than ever before! For this success we thank our members, prior leaders of SITC and the outstanding SITC staff. Welcome to the world’s leading organization dedicated to cancer immunotherapy; we’re happy to have you in the family!

Nonmembers who haven’t yet registered for SITC 2019 can become a SITC member very quickly and easily during the registration process. The deadline to receive the discounted registration rate to attend SITC 2019 is quickly approaching (Oct. 9, 2019), and the housing reservation deadline follows on Oct. 14, 2019. I appreciate the hard work of our organizers, faculty and staff as they complete their final preparations to ensure SITC 2019 is our society’s greatest conference yet.

Please be sure to visit the SITC booth during the Annual Meeting to join SITC or renew your membership. Those who secure their membership through the next calendar year while attending SITC 2019 will receive a special gift from the society.

I look forward to seeing you all in National Harbor, Md., next month.

Sincerely,

Mario Sznol, MD
SITC President

President's Message - September 2019

Dear Colleagues,

I’d like to begin this month’s President’s Message honoring Stan Collender (1951-2019). Stan, an immunotherapy pioneer and advocate, was a cancer patient of past SITC President Michael B. Atkins, MD. Dr. Atkins first met Stan in 2012 when he presented with Merkel Cell Carcinoma. From there, they developed a close relationship as Stan courageously fought his disease with immunotherapy for many years. Their experience and efforts together taught us much about the impact and limitations of immunotherapy. Read more about Stan’s life and contributions to our field in the heartfelt memorial posted by Dr. Atkins to The Sentinel, SITC’s official blog.

As you know, breakthroughs in research and the advent of new cancer immunotherapy treatments this century spurred an explosion of interest and investment in our field. Through offerings like the Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) brings together the most accomplished and innovative researchers in the field to spark new collaborations and force consideration of new ideas that prompt discovery of new targets and approaches.

While the SITC Annual Meeting is perhaps our most important and visible effort to advance science and improve patient outcomes, many other SITC activities contribute to our core mission. SITC’s Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy™ (ACI) regional education series is an example of how SITC leverages its member’s clinical and science expertise to inform patient care, particularly safe and effective treatment administration. At the other end of the spectrum of SITC programs, the society seeks to expand research and knowledge in our field through the professional development of early career scientists. Young investigators are the future of cancer immunotherapy research. SITC is investing in their future through a variety of programs that provide education and professional development and promote community and collaboration.

One of our most effective programs aimed at young investigators is the SITC Meet-the-Experts – an annual luncheon at the SITC Annual Meeting (Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, at 12:05 p.m.) organized by the Early Career Scientist Committee that connects young investigators with leaders in the field. It has now grown to a year-round initiative featuring regular, free webinars. These online events focus on various topics that are pertinent to an early career scientist’s professional development. Most recently, Tullia Bruno, PhD (University of Pittsburgh), moderated our Aug. 22 webinar focused on Careers in Science Away from the Bench, which you can view on-demand here.

SITC will once again host a Cancer Immunotherapy Winter School on Jan. 13-17, 2020, at the Hilton Houston Post Oak in Houston, Texas. Led by program organizers Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD (Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy/University of California San Francisco), and Leisha A. Emens, MD, PhD (UPMC Hillman Cancer Center), this program provides intensive instruction on the core principles of tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy. These programs also foster connections among peers which is critical component to their future success.

SITC also strengthens the support network for young scientists through the Professional Interest Communities. These digital discussion forums connect individuals of similar professional and personal backgrounds to share career development needs, address professional hurdles and more.

Beyond the basic education and professional development offered by SITC, SITC Fellowships provide funding to support the early careers of the most talented scientists. Supported through the Forward Fund, SITC has awarded more than $2 million in Fellowship Awards since 2014. Stay tuned later this year for information about 2020 SITC Fellowships.

SITC offers an affordable membership rate of $50 for students and scientists-in-training. Joining our society provides discounted access to vital SITC in-person programs and reduced fees on articles accepted to the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC). It also places young investigators in a professional network of the most influential basic scientists, translational researchers and clinicians in the field. Click here to become a SITC member and join the world’s leading organization dedicated solely to cancer immunotherapy research.

Finally, I would like to recognize and thank the countless number of women who organized, facilitated and attended SITC’s Women in Cancer Immunotherapy Network Leadership Institute in Seattle last month. This exciting new program from SITC, championed by immediate Past President Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD, was a rousing success. I look forward to seeing our society continue its effort to support, advance and celebrate the success of women in our field.

Sincerely,

Mario Sznol, MD
SITC President

President's Message - August 2019

Dear Colleagues,

Since its creation in 1984, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) has steadfastly pursued its goals to advance the science and application of tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy. As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and other authorities around the world, have approved use of numerous immunotherapy treatments in recent years for a variety of cancers, education of the patient care team has become one of the most critical initiatives of our society.

To achieve its educational goals, SITC and its members have developed state-of-the-art programs, both online and in-person. An example of online resources is the SITC library of Cancer Immunotherapy Guidelines. The most recent publication in this series contains clinical treatment recommendations for clinicians administering immunotherapy for patients with HNSCC and is published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC) – our open access, peer-reviewed online journal. Congratulations to the SITC Cancer Immunotherapy Guidelines Head and Neck Subcommittee for authoring this important consensus statement.

For in-person education, the Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy™ (ACI) regional programs have been particularly effective and popular. Approaching its seventh year, ACIs are held in 15 communities around North America each year, and include national and local experts on cancer immunotherapy across the disease spectrum. SITC will again offer the program free of charge for healthcare professionals in the clinical setting, students and patient advocates ACI programs provide:

• In-depth information on treating patients with FDA-approved immunotherapies
• Analysis and interpretation of new clinical data supporting the use of checkpoint inhibitors, CAR T therapies, cytokines, oncolytic viruses and vaccines
• Education enabling clinicians and other health care personnel to more effectively identify and manage immune-related adverse events
• Strategies to overcome operational and reimbursement barriers to incorporating immunotherapy into practice

I’ve served as an ACI faculty member myself, and seen first-hand SITC’s ability to draw from a vast network of scientific and clinical experts to provide an outstanding educational program. Attendees acquire a better understanding of current practices and known challenges to administering cancer immunotherapy treatments. All ACIs are CME-, CNE-, CPE- and MOC-certified, assisting clinicians in providing state of the art care to their patients.

Beginning in September and through March 2020, SITC will bring its ACI program to 15 cities around North America. Registration is currently open for Cleveland (Sept. 5), Chicago (Sept. 28), Boston (Oct. 10), Buffalo, N.Y. (Oct. 26) and Nashville, Tenn. (Dec. 4). Remaining cities that will host an ACI in the coming year include: Philadelphia; San Francisco; Birmingham, Ala.; Charlotte, N.C.; San Diego; Washington, D.C.; Tampa, Fla.; Tucson, Ariz.; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; and San Antonio. Stay tuned to the SITC website for dates and registration information on upcoming ACIs.

Finally, I’d like to share a quick reminder that we are nearly a month out from SITC’s upcoming interim workshops on cancer immune responsiveness (Sept. 4-5) and adoptive cellular therapies (Sept. 5-6) in Houston. The deadline to save money on housing is Wednesday, Aug. 14, with online registration closing Wednesday, Aug. 28, so don’t hesitate in securing your spot for these engaging scientific and clinical workshops. I hope to see you in Texas!

Sincerely,

Mario Sznol, MD
SITC President