The deadline to submit an abstract for short talk and poster presentation consideration has passed. For any questions or issues, please email info@keystonesymposia.org.

Immune checkpoint blockade therapy (ICT) has provided lasting cures for a subset of patients with specific cancers. Attempts to expand ICT toward other patients and cancers has revealed some of the limitations of ICT, particularly as monotherapies. This meeting will discuss some of those limitations, touching upon lessons learned from failed clinical trials, mechanisms of resistance to ICT, and new technologies which offer the promise of a more comprehensive understanding of the tumor-immune response. A strong emphasis will also be placed on exploring tumor-immunity beyond T cell biology. A better understanding of why immuno-oncology clinical trials have failed in the past is expected to better inform basic scientists on design of pre-clinical studies that may guide improved clinical trials that avoid the mistakes of the past. Further elucidation of the mechanisms through which cancers are either refractory to initial treatment with ICT or gain resistance over time should provide avenues to predict rationally-designed combinatorial treatments from among the hundreds of thousands to millions of potential combinations. Finally, new technologies, including high dimensional spatiotemporal imaging and T cell engineering, provide new opportunities to expand our knowledge of immunology and therapeutic repertoire sometimes in unexpected ways. This meeting brings together scientists and clinicians from many aspects of tumor immunology to rethink the next steps in the evolution of cancer immunotherapy. It is expected to provide a springboard toward basic science discoveries and new, more effective therapies.

Co-organizer and 2018 Nobel Laureate from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Jim Allison talks about why you should attend this meeting in the video below: