Overview

September 26 - 27, 2024

National Institutes of Health

Clinical Center
Building 10
10 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD, 20892
Masur Auditorium

The 2024 CCR/CEI Fall Immunology Symposium was a wonderful celebration of the 50 years Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg has dedicated to pursuing immunotherapy for patients with cancer. In seven sessions over two days, colleagues and collaborators traced the development of cytokines, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and cellular therapy. Attendees learned about the pre-clinical investigations and clinical trials that paved the way for the eight cellular therapies that are now approved by the FDA for the treatment of lymphoma, leukemia, myeloma, melanoma, and sarcoma. The event allowed former colleagues to reconnect and for new collaborations to be formed.

Dr. Rosenberg spoke primarily on using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) for cancer treatment, highlighting clinical responses and strategies for improving results in patients with cancers other than melanoma.  Nobel laureate Dr. Jim Allison and Dr. Suzanne Topalian described the broad clinical success of immune checkpoint blockade targeting CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1 and ongoing investigations of other checkpoint targets within the immune synapse. Dr. Crystal Mackall highlighted clinical progress in the use of chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) in solid cancers. Current NIH and NCI Directors (Drs. Bertagnolli and Rathmell) delivered remarks on Dr. Rosenberg’s ongoing contributions in the field - as a scientist, clinician, and mentor.

Speakers Included:

James Allison, Ph.D., MD Anderson Cancer Center
Stephanie Goff, M.D., Center for Cancer Research, NCI
Alena Gros, Ph.D., Vall D'Hebon Institute of Oncology
Ken-ichi Hanada, Ph.D., Center for Cancer Research, NCI
Patrick Hwu, M.D., Moffitt Cancer Center
Rosandra Kaplan, M.D., Center for Cancer Research, NCI
Yutaka Kawakami M.D., Ph.D., International University of Health and Welfare 
James Kochenderfer, M.D., Center for Cancer Research, NCI
Sri Krishna, Ph.D., Center for Cancer Research, NCI
Michael Lotze, M.D., University of Pittsburgh
Frank Lowery, Ph.D., Center for Cancer Research, NCI
Crystal Mackall, M.D., Stanford University
Richard Morgan, Ph.D., Be Biopharma
James Mule, Ph.D., Moffit Cancer Center 
Maria Parkhurst, Ph.D., Center for Cancer Research, NCI
Crystal Paulos, Ph.D., Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University 
Nicholas Restifo, M.D., Marble Therapeutics
Paul Robbins, Ph.D., Center for Cancer Research, NCI
Steven Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., Center for Cancer Research, NCI
Eric Tran, Ph.D., Providence Cancer Institute
Suzanne Topalian, M.D., Johns Hopkins 
Jennifer Wargo, M.D., MD Anderson Cancer Center
James Yang, M.D., Center for Cancer Research, NCI