PICI Network Investigators to Unveil Cancer Research Breakthroughs at AACR 2024

PICI Network Investigators and Collaborators will play a central role in driving the scientific discourse and showcasing the latest innovations in cancer immunotherapy at The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024, taking place from April 5-10 in San Diego. 

From groundbreaking discoveries in T cell engineering to novel computational approaches for integrating multi-omic data, PICI researchers are at the forefront of the field with contributions spanning the entire spectrum of immunotherapy research, from basic mechanisms to translational applications and clinical trials. At AACR 2024, PICI Network Investigators will present their transformative work, while also serving as leaders, chairing key sessions and shaping the scientific program. 

In total, PICI network investigators and collaborators are involved in approximately:

• 3 Keynotes and Special Sessions 
• 5 Session Chair Roles 
• 6 Oral Presentations
• 30 Poster Presentations 
• 3 Award Chairs 
• 1 Distinguished Award Recipient

Keynote Presentations and Special Sessions:

• PICI Investigator Philip Greenberg, MD (Fred Hutch), who serves as 2023-24 AACR President, will present opening remarks at the opening ceremony and “Engineering T cells to eradicate tumors: Identifying and overcoming the obstacles,” as part of the Presidential Address
• PICI Center Director James P. Allison, PhD (MD Anderson) and PICI Center Director Alexander Marson, MD, PhD, (Gladstone Institutes) will present during sections of the Presidential select symposium on cancer immunotherapy 
• PICI Investigator Michael Angelo, MD, PhD (Stanford) will present “Spatial encoding of immune response and clinical outcome in the breast cancer tumor microenvironment,” as part of the plenary session

Session Chairs:

• PICI Collaborator Nina Bhardwaj, MD, PhD (MSSM): Optimizing cancer vaccines through advances in immunogenomics and immunopeptidomics (FO08)
• PICI Center Co-Director F. Stephen Hodi, MD (DFCI): Discovering and broadening the therapeutic modalities of immune therapy (SY42)
• PICI Investigator Philip Greenberg, MD (Fred Hutch): Introduction to NCI Director’s address and fireside chat (LE02)
• PICI Collaborator James Heath, PhD (Institute for Systems Biology): Determinants and meanings of T cell recognition, exhaustion, and persistence (ED22)
• PICI Collaborator Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD (Johns Hopkins): Clinical trial design workshop on precision combination therapy (MW08)

Oral Presentations:

• PICI Investigator & 2022 Parker Bridge Fellow Katie Campbell, PhD (UCLA): Biopsy analysis of ipilimumab plus nivolumab vs ipilimumab alone in anti-PD-1 refractory melanoma (6550)
• PICI Center Co-Director E. John Wherry, PhD (University of Pennsylvania): T cell exhaustion and relevance in cancer immunology
• PICI Collaborator Lisa Butterfield, PhD (UCSF): Dendritic cell vaccine successes and failures
• PICI Investigator Robert Schreiber, PhD (WashU): Improvement of tumor neoantigen detection by high field asymmetric waveform ion mobility (mass) and spectroscopy (FAIMS)
• PICI Center Director Crystal Mackall, MD (Stanford Medicine): New approaches to enhance CAR-T cell efficacy for solid cancers

Poster Highlights from the PICI Network:

• PICI Chief Medical Officer Ute Dugan, MD, PhD, PICI Senior Director, Network Clinical Research, Chris Cabanski, PhD, PICI Center Co-Director Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD (MD Anderson):  Evaluating nivolumab (nivo) plus ipilimumab (ipi) in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC): Clinical and translational results from the AMADEUS prostate expansion cohort (CT138/17)
• PICI Senior Director, Network Clinical Research, Chris Cabanski, PhD: Randomized placebo-controlled, biomarker-stratified phase 1b microbiome modulation trial for metastatic melanoma demonstrates impact of antibiotic pre-conditioning regimen on the microbiome and immunity (CT030)
• PICI Senior Director, Network Clinical Research, Chris Cabanski, PhD: Germline signatures predicting toxicity and response to CTLA4 inhibitors (2986 / 3)
• PICI Center Director James P. Allison, PhD (MD Anderson) and PICI Center Co-Director Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD (MD Anderson): Spatial profiling reveals unique immune features of tertiary lymphoid structures in melanoma (5486/8)
• PICI Alliances and Collaboration Director Sam Liang, PhD and PICI Chief Scientific Officer John Connolly, PhD: Quantification of tumor fraction and outcomes association in a real-world non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cohort using a tissue agnostic epigenomic circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) assay (2490/7)
• PICI Investigator David Oh MD, PhD (UCSF): Responders to combination radiation and PD-1 blockade demonstrate reduced myeloid immunosuppression and enhanced interferon signaling in oligometastatic prostate cancer (4988/5)
• PICI Center Director James P. Allison, PhD (MD Anderson): Anti-CTLA-4 generates memory T cells with greater expansion and functionality than anti-PD-1 (1354/5)
• PICI Investigator Zinaida Good, PhD (Stanford/Mackall Lab): Lineage tracing defines responding CAR T cells in patients with B cell malignancies (6325/16)
• PICI Collaborator Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD (Johns Hopkins): A differential ligand-receptor network inference method to identify alterations in communication between myeloid cells and CD8 T cells in response to PancVAX neo-epitope peptide vaccine, anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 antibodies in a murine model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (6212/15)
• PICI Center Director Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD (Weill Cornell Medicine) and PICI Center Co-Director Taha Merghoub, PhD (Weill Cornell Medicine): Gut microbiota mimics as a source of cross-reactive tumor rejection antigens (4090/1)
• PICI Collaborator Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD (Johns Hopkins): An off-the-shelf vaccine activates mutant KRAS-specific T cells in patients with resected pancreatic cancer (1170/4)
• PICI Center Co-Director Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD (DFCI): Tumor-immune interactions and cisplatin resistance in localized muscle-invasive bladder cancer (7041/8)

Distinguished Award Recipient:

• PICI Center Co-Director Owen Witte, MD (UCLA): Invited speaker for AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Blood Cancer Research

Award Committee Leadership: 

• PICI Investigator Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, DPhil (Penn): Chairperson for AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research
• PICI Investigator Robert Schreiber, PhD (WashU): Chairperson for Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research
• PICI Investigator Philip Greenberg, MD (Fred Hutch): Chairperson for AACR-Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship

This extensive participation reflects the depth and breadth of the impact of the PICI Network. We look forward to an exciting and productive meeting as our scientists share their groundbreaking research and forge collaborations to accelerate progress against cancer.

Stay tuned for updates from AACR 2024, and be sure to follow us on social media for real-time highlights. For a comprehensive list of all PICI network investigator activities at AACR 2024, download the PICI Guide to AACR 2024 as a pdf here.