Dear Colleagues,
The identification, standardization and validation of
biomarkers will assist clinicians to identify the best cancer immunotherapies
for patients and inform research scientists about the most critical areas of
immunology for further investigation. Data from the last several years has
shown the importance of checkpoint molecule expression, tumor mutation burden
and CD8+ T cell infiltrate localization in tumors for patient outcomes, yet
clinically validated, actionable biomarkers are not yet in hand. As many
of you know, biomarker research has long been a research focus of mine and one
reason I became a member of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), as
SITC shares this passion to advance immune biomarker science.
I am proud to have been chairing the SITC Immune Biomarkers Committee, which is working at
the forefront of biomarker research. The committee convened in 2014 to review
the state of the field and identify challenges and opportunities still facing
the community. At the time, the committee was comprised of four working groups
(WG) dedicated to the following topic areas:
- WG 1 – Immunologic Monitoring, Assay Standardization & Validation
- WG 2 – New Developments in Biomarker Assays & New Technologies
- WG 3 – Assessment of Immune Regulation & Modulation Systematically (High Throughput Approaches)
- WG 4 – Prediction of Clinical Outcome Based on Baseline Measures
These hard-working teams published five white papers in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC) – SITC's
open-access, peer-reviewed online journal. Building on these efforts, the
committee is ready to apply its members' expertise to shaping the future of the
field.
The SITC Immune Biomarkers Committee is pleased to invite
individuals from across academia, biotech, pharma, government and clinical
research communities to our upcoming workshop, Immuno-Oncology Biomarkers: State of the Art, May 16 – 17, 2018, in San Francisco. This
small and focused gathering will support cross-disciplinary cooperation across
organizations to advance biomarker development, shape innovative new
collaborations, and determine future projects of the committee in the coming
years.
This Biomarkers Workshop takes place following two days of
dynamic collaboration during the Cancer Immune Responsiveness Workshop (May 14 – 15, 2018), which will feature
discussions on the role of host genetics and environmental modifiers in cancer
biology, adaptive and innate immune mechanisms that initiate a therapeutic
response, and the development of improved in vivo models for screening novel
therapeutic strategies.
SITC is proud to organize and support meaningful, impactful
collaborations involving participants from every expertise. These workshops are
an excellent example of SITC's effort to better the field, and I look forward
to seeing you in San Francisco!
Sincerely,
Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD
SITC President
No comments:
Post a Comment