LETTER FROM THE EDITOR - JUNE

Hello JITC Readers,

June is always a special month for the journal and our field as we celebrate the 10^th annual Cancer Immunotherapy Month™. It’s exciting to mark this month during a time when awareness about and optimism for immunotherapy are at an all-time high after the recent exciting presentation of a 100% clinical complete response rate in a small cohort of patients with mismatch repair deficient locally advanced rectal cancer. 

Of course, the results of such attention-grabbing small studies require extensive efforts from the basic, translational, and clinical research communities before they can become incorporated into the standard of care—and you, our JITC readers, have been instrumental all along the way in helping immunotherapy offer improved outcomes to patients with cancer. Be sure to investigate the offerings in this month’s special feature focused on the position articles and guidelines published in JITC for detailed examples of how the journal provides guidance to enhance decision-making in the immunotherapy field.

Position articles and guidelines are built upon basic and translational advances and the articles selected in this month’s highlight exemplify emerging areas within our field that may set the stage for the next practice-changing developments.

A pair of papers focused on tumor metabolism identify a potential biomarker for benefit and a potential target for drug development. Koichi Azuma et al describe a pre-treatment serum signature of soluble amino acids that predicts benefit with anti-PD-1 monotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer while Apple Hui Min Tay et al synthesize novel antagonists of adenosine metabolism that alleviate suppression of lymphocyte proliferation and effector function in patient-derived tumor spheroid models.

Two papers offer tangible steps toward addressing important unmet needs. Clinical evidence for activity of anti-PD-1 against cancer of unknown primary is reported by Kanwal P. Raghav et al and a novel and pharmacologically targetable tumor-cell intrinsic resistance mechanism to T cell-secreted tumor necrosis factor alpha is revealed by Antonio Sorrentino and colleagues.

I hope you will join us in celebrating Cancer Immunotherapy Month™ and continuing the excitement for the journal’s 10^th anniversary year. If you are on social media, be sure to follow @jitcancer and @sitcancer for more exciting offerings throughout the month. 

Best wishes,

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