2016 WMIF | Immunotherapy I: Checkpoint Activation and Cancer Vaccines

2016 WMIF | Immunotherapy I: Checkpoint Activation and Cancer Vaccines

Moderator: Nir Hacohen, PhD, Immunologist, MGH Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases, MGH Research Scholar, Associate Professor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Thomas Daniel, MD, Chairman, Celgene Research
Glenn Dranoff, MD, Global Head of Exploratory Immuno-Oncology, Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research
Robert Mulroy, President and CEO, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals
David Reese, MD, Senior Vice President, Translational Sciences, Amgen
Scott Rodig, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, BWH
Arlene Sharpe, MD, PhD, Leader, Cancer Immunology, BWH, DFCI, George Fabyan Professor of Comparative Pathology, Harvard Medical School

Among the most promising approaches to activating therapeutic antitumor immunity is the blockade of immune checkpoints. Checkpoint blockade, prevention of inhibitory signaling that limits activation or function of tumor antigen-specific T cells responses, is revolutionizing the treatment of many poor-prognosis malignancies. Expert panelists discuss significant long-term cancer remissions, potential cures – in some cases – and how boosting the body’s own defenses is producing stunning results when combined with standard anticancer therapies and other immunotherapies. They will also detail the experimental accines in development that are designed to “wake up” the immune system so it will trigger reliable and effective attacks on cancer cells.