The Sentinel

THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SOCIETY FOR IMMUNOTHERAPY OF CANCER (SITC).

Friday, May 27, 2022

Letter from the Editor - May

Hello JITC Readers,

pedro-romero_1__1_.jpgThis month’s JITC digest marks the beginning of the journal’s 10th anniversary year. Since our first issue was published in May of 2013, the journal and the immunotherapy field have evolved tremendously and we are excited to continue supporting the advancement of the immuno-oncology discipline for many years to come. 


We hope you will join us in celebrating a decade of JITC. Take a walk down memory lane with us by exploring the special features on our 10th anniversary page, including an editorial looking back on the journal’s storied history as well as an illuminating fireside chat between SITC President Dr. Patrick Hwu and JITC leadership on the journal’s trajectory. 


Throughout the past 10 years, JITC has published innovative research from across the immunotherapy field. This month, the papers highlighted in the digest emphasize how even such a familiar topic as PD-1 blockade still yields novel insights with clinical and translational data on novel combination strategies, biomarkers, and response dynamics. 


Acceptable safety with response rates of around 35% are reported by Charu Aggarwal et al in a phase I/II trial evaluating the combination of anti-PD-1 and anti-B7-H3 in checkpoint inhibitor-naïve head and neck and non-small cell lung cancers.  


Yongxiang Xia and colleagues describe efficacy and safety for perioperative anti-PD-1 plus anti-VEGF TKI for hepatocellular carcinoma as well as ctDNA-based biomarkers for predicting response and recurrence risk with the combination.  


An inverse association between somatic copy number alteration burden, immune cell infiltration, and progression-free survival in non-small cell lung cancer is revealed by Joan Frigola and colleagues.  


Finally, Yoon-Koo Kang et al find no evidence for hyperprogression in patients with gastric cancer or small-cell lung cancer treated with checkpoint blockade in the first analysis of the phenomenon using data from randomized controlled trials.  


No matter whether you’ve been with us from the beginning or have just recently discovered JITC, we’re grateful for all our readers and we’re excited for what the future has in store for the journal and our field. 

Best, 


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