PICI Network Investigators Propel Immunotherapy Progress at SITC 2024

The 39th Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), the largest meeting for cancer immunotherapy, will take place Nov. 8-10. The conference is a unique opportunity for researchers, industry and regulatory agencies to come together, share the latest research and data, exchange ideas and collaborate toward the future of cancer care. 

PICI Network Investigators and Collaborators will be integral to the meeting, and we’re looking forward to the progress and insights to come. 

Katie Campbell, PhD, a 2022 Parker Bridge Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles, is among several PICI Investigators who will co-chair a presentation session. She will also speak during a panel session on tumor biomarkers in the anti-PD-1 refractory setting. 

“I’m eager to share our correlative findings on tumor biomarkers in the anti-PD-1 refractory setting,” said Dr. Campbell. “SITC is an outstanding meeting, where I hope to engage with colleagues on how a deeper profiling of the immune microenvironment can inform more precise, effective treatments for patients facing resistance in melanoma.”

Dr. Campbell is part of a substantial PICI presence at the meeting. In total, PICI Network Investigators and Collaborators are involved in more than 50 presentations, including: 

• 6 sessions with PICI chairs and co-chairs
• 10 panel sessions featuring PICI speakers 
• 10 oral presentations
• 28 poster presentations
• 1 pre-conference program organizer

Nine of the above abstracts have been designated by SITC as “Top 100” abstracts, and five were designated as Young Investigator Award abstracts.  

For a full list of all presentations and sessions, please access the SITC program here. 

Presentation Highlights from the Network: 

Session Chairs and Co-Chairs include: 

• Katie Campbell, PhD, 2022 Parker Bridge Fellow at UCLA: Session 207d: Oral Abstract Session 

• F. Stephen Hodi, MD, PICI Center Co-Director, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Concurrent Session 106e: Commonalities and Site-Specific Factors for Immune Microenvironments across and between Tumor Types

• Cristina Puig-Saus, PhD, PICI Investigator, UCLA: Concurrent Session 107b: Protein and Cellular Engineering Strategies

• Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, Director of the PICI Center at UCLA and Catherine Wu, MD, PICI Investigator, Dana-Farber: Session 301: Thomas Waldmann Memorial Plenary Session: Understanding Response and Resistance – Lessons from Patient Samples

• Kole Roybal, PhD, Director of the PICI Center at UCSF: Immune Engineering Workshop: Building Bridges Between All Aspects of Engineering and Immuno-oncology (pre-conference workshop; program organizer)

• Roberta Zappasodi, PhD, PICI Investigator and 2019 Parker Bridge Fellow, Weill Cornell Medicine: Concurrent Session 107d: Oral Abstract Session

Panel/session speakers include:

• Allison Betof Warner, MD, PhD, PICI Investigator, Stanford Medicine: Concurrent Session 106d: Biotech Breakthroughs – Solid Tumor IO at the Tipping Point, Panel Discussion: IO for Solid Tumors Beyond Checkpoint Inhibitors – Future Directions

• Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD, PICI Center Co-Director, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Concurrent Session 106e: Commonalities and Site-Specific Factors for Immune Microenvironments across and between Tumor Types, From the Clinic to the Lab: Investigating Mechanisms of Response and Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Therapy 

• Justin Eyquem, PhD, 2019 Parker Senior Fellow, UCSF and Gladstone Institutes: Concurrent Session 107b: Protein and Cellular Engineering Strategies, Ex vivo and In vivo CRISPR editing to program T cell function

• Marcela Maus, MD, PhD, PICI Collaborator, Massachusetts General Hospital: Concurrent Session 107b: Protein and Cellular Engineering Strategies, Cellular Engineering 

• Yvonne Chen, PhD, PICI Investigator, UCLA: Concurrent Session 107b: Protein and Cellular Engineering Strategies, Multi-Pronged CAR-T Cell Therapy for Cancer

• Andy Minn, MD, PhD, PICI Investigator, University of Pennsylvania: Session 203: Genomic Instability: How it Mediates Immunity and Immune Evasion, Targeting Chronic Interferon and Inflammatory Memory in Cancer Immunotherapy Resistance

• Aram Lyu, PhD, PICI Investigator and 2023 Parker Scholar, UCSF: Session 205b: Rapid Oral Abstract-Clinical, (560) Identification and therapeutic target of myeloid-mediated mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance in prostate cancer

• Catherine Wu, MD, PICI Investigator, Dana-Farber: Session 207a: CD4 & Tregs, Human Neoantigen-Specific CD4 T Cells in the Native Setting and Following Cancer Vaccination

• Karin Pelka, PhD, PICI Investigator, Gladstone Institutes: Session 301: Thomas Waldmann Memorial Plenary Session: Understanding Response and Resistance – Lessons from Patient Samples, Spatially Organized Immune Hubs in Colon Cancer
• Katie Campbell, PhD, 2022 Parker Bridge Fellow at UCLA: Session 301: Thomas Waldmann Memorial Plenary Session: Understanding Response and Resistance – Lessons from Patient Samples, Contextualizing Tumor Biomarkers in the Anti-PD-1-Refractory Setting

Abstracts featuring PICI-affiliated authors, designated as some of SITC’s “Top 100 Abstracts” include: 

• Identification and therapeutic target of myeloid-mediated mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance in prostate cancer (#560)
  • PICI Investigator and 2023 Parker Scholar Aram Lyu, PhD, UCSF;  PICI Investigator Eliezer Van Allen, MD, Dana-Farber 

• Dual-targeted CAR T cells boost antitumor immunity against solid tumors (#259)
  • PICI Investigator Andrew J. Rech, MD, PhD, Penn, PICI Investigator Regina Young, PhD, Penn, Carl June, MD, Director of the PICI Center at Penn

• Developing a preclinical toxicity model to predict and prevent clinical CAR T cell toxicity in prostate cancer (#318)
  • Carl June, MD, Director of the PICI Center at Penn

• VCAM-1+ Tumor Associated Macrophages Form Perivascular Tumor Niches and Drive Resistance to Anti-CTLA-4 Therapy (#896)
  • James P. Allison, PhD, Director of the PICI Center at MD Anderson 

• Development of an Off-the-shelf, MICA/B-targeted CAR T cell to Overcome a Pan-tumor Escape Mechanism for Solid Tumors (#264)
  • PICI Investigator Kai W. Wucherpfennig, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

• Epigenetic Modulation by KDM6B in Myeloid Cells Regulates Glioblastoma Immune checkpoint therapy Outcomes (#575)
  • Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD, PICI Center Co-Director, MD Anderson

• Dissecting immune surveillance and escape in Lynch syndrome patients (#1350)
  • PICI Investigator Nina Bhardwaj, MD, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 

• Mannose supplementation: A strategy for metabolically driving a stem-like T cell program for improved tumor control (#230)
  • Phil Greenberg, MD, PICI Investigator at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

• BASECAMP-1 is an efficient pre-screening study that identifies patients with HLA LOH and provides mutational, RNA-Seq, and microbiome data for precision logic-gated CAR T therapeutic trials (#589)
  • Marcela Maus, MD, PhD, PICI Collaborator, Massachusetts General Hospital