SAN FRANCISCO, April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy investigators will present some of the most anticipated immuno-oncology research at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. The event takes place at McCormick Place in Chicago from April 14 through April 18.

The AACR Annual Meeting highlights the best in cancer science and medicine. The event is expected to draw more than 20,000 scientists, clinicians, advocates and others to discuss advances in cancer science.

More than 70 abstracts and events at AACR 2018 feature scientists affiliated with the Parker Institute. Below are select symposia, plenary sessions and abstracts highlighting Parker Institute researchers.

AWARDS

Antoni Ribas Wins AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology
April 17, 2018, 3:30-4:15 p.m.
Room S100 (Grand Ballroom) – McCormick Place South (Level 1)

Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D., Parker Institute center director at the University of California, Los Angeles, will be honored with the AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology. This achievement, named for immunotherapy pioneer Lloyd Old, recognizes an active scientist whose outstanding and innovative research in cancer immunology has had a far-reaching impact on the cancer field. Dr. Ribas’ lecture is titled “Genetic engineering of anticancer immune responses.” (LE11)

SYMPOSIA AND SESSIONS

Personalized Neoantigen Vaccines
April 15, 2018, 1-2:45 p.m. 
N Hall B (Plenary Hall) – McCormick Place North (Level 3)

Catherine Wu, M.D., a Parker Institute investigator at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, chairs this symposium on cancer vaccines, an exciting area of emerging research in immuno-oncology. Dr. Wu will discuss designing and improving personalized cancer vaccines. Parker Institute investigator Nina Bhardwaj, M.D., Ph.D., of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, will also present on neoantigen discovery. (SY14)

Impact of the Microbiome in Cancer Immunity 
April 14, 2018, 10:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.      
Room S406 (Vista Ballroom) – McCormick Place South (Level 4)

Jennifer Wargo, M.D., a Parker Institute scientist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, chairs this session on the connection between the gut microbiome and cancer immunotherapy. Marcel van den Brink, M.D., Ph.D., center co-director of the Parker Institute at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, is also a speaker. (ED36)

Immune Checkpoint Therapy: From CTLA-4 to PD-1/PD-L1 and Beyond 
April 15, 2017, 10:15-10:40 a.m.
N Hall B (Plenary Hall) – McCormick Place North (Level 3)

Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., Parker Institute center co-director at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, will lead the audience on a journey from the first checkpoint inhibitors to the next promising immunotherapy agents on the horizon, including ICOS, CD47, VISTA, oncolytic viruses and EZH2 inhibitors. Preclinical and clinical data regarding these targets will be discussed. (PL01)

Fundamental and Applied Cancer Immunology
April 17, 2018, 8:15-10:15 a.m.
N Hall B (Plenary Hall) – McCormick Place North (Level 3)

Crystal Mackall, M.D., Parker Institute center director at Stanford Medicine, chairs this symposium. Parker Institute Center Director Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D., at UCLA and Mark Davis, Ph.D., a Parker Institute center co-director at Stanford, also will present. (PL03)

Defining New Immunotherapeutic Targets through Deep Molecular Characterization
April 16, 2018, 3-5 p.m.
Room S100 (Grand Ballroom) – McCormick Place South (Level 1)

Matthew Spitzer, Ph.D., a Parker Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, co-chairs this mini-symposium that features research from the labs of Parker Institute investigators Phil Greenberg, M.D., of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; Lawrence Fong, M.D., Parker Institute center co-director at UCSF; and Robert Vonderheide, M.D., DPhil, a Parker Institute investigator at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. (MS.IM02.02)

NOTABLE RESEARCH ABSTRACTS

• Checkpoint Inhibition Versus Chemotherapy as First-line Treatment for Advanced Lung Cancer
  Nivolumab (nivo) + ipilimumab (ipi) vs platinum-doublet chemotherapy (PT-DC) as first-line (1L) treatment (tx) for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): initial results from CheckMate 227: Parker Institute scientist Matthew Hellmann, M.D., of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, is lead author on this phase 3 study. (CT077)

• CD40 Agonists and Checkpoint Therapy in Pancreatic Cancer
  Nonredundant roles for immune checkpoint blockade and agonistic CD40 in mediating T-cell responses in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Robert Vonderheide, Ph.D., DPhil, of the University of Pennsylvania, is senior author. Co-authors include Parker Fellow Katelyn Byrne, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania. (4940) 

  This research was funded in part by the Parker Institute. 

• Cancer Vaccine Spurs Anti-Tumor Activity in Skin, Lung and Bladder Cancers
  A personal neoantigen vaccine, NEO-PV-01, with anti-PD1 induces broad de novo anti-tumor immunity in patients with metastatic melanoma, NSCLC, and bladder cancer: Parker Institute scientist Siwen Hu-Lieskovan, M.D, Ph.D., of UCLA is senior author. Parker Institute scientists Nina Bhardwaj, M.D., Ph.D., of Mount Sinai and Matthew Hellmann, M.D., of Memorial Sloan Kettering are co-authors. (CT125)

• The Microbiome’s Effect on CAR-T Efficacy
  Gut microbiota modulates adoptive cell therapy via CD8α dendritic cells: Carl June, M.D., Parker Institute center director at University of Pennsylvania, is a co-author on this poster. (3798)

• Phase I Clinical Trial Combines Cell Therapy, Cancer Vaccine and Checkpoint Inhibitor
  A pilot trial of the combination of transgenic NY-ESO-1-reactive adoptive cellular therapy with dendritic cell vaccination with or without ipilimumab in patients with sarcoma and melanoma: Parker Institute Center Director Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D., of UCLA, is senior author. Parker Institute scientists Siwen Hu-Lieskovan, M.D., Ph.D., and Catherine Grasso, Ph.D., at UCLA are co-authors. (CT008)

• Engineering a Solution to T-Cell Exhaustion
  Engineering AP1 to combat CAR T cell exhaustion: Parker Institute Center Director Crystal Mackall, M.D., Parker Institute scientist Howard Chang, M.D., Ph.D., and Parker Bridge Scholar Ansuman Satpathy, M.D., Ph.D., all of Stanford, are authors on this late-breaking abstract. (LB-112)

• Can CD40/TLR4 Activation Overcome T-cell Exhaustion?
  Defined factors overcome T-cell exhaustion via abscopal effect: Parker Institute Center Director Jedd Wolchok, M.D., Ph.D., and Parker Institute scientists Taha Merghoub, Ph.D., and Danny Khalil, M.D., Ph.D, all of Memorial Sloan Kettering, are authors.

About the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy brings together the best scientists, clinicians and industry partners to build a smarter and more coordinated cancer immunotherapy research effort.

The Parker Institute is an unprecedented collaboration between the country’s leading immunologists and cancer centers. The program started by providing institutional support to six academic centers, including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford Medicine, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, San Francisco, the University of Pennsylvania and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The institute also provides programmatic support for top immunotherapy investigators, including a group of researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Robert Schreiber, Ph.D., of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Nina Bhardwaj, M.D., Ph.D., of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Phil Greenberg, M.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The Parker Institute network also includes more than 40 industry and nonprofit partners, more than 60 labs and more than 300 of the nation’s top researchers focused on treating the deadliest cancers.

The goal is to accelerate the development of breakthrough immune therapies capable of turning most cancers into curable diseases. The institute was created through a $250 million grant from The Parker Foundation.

View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/parker-institute-for-cancer-immunotherapy-scientists-to-present-immuno-oncology-research-on-personalized-cancer-vaccines-new-checkpoint-inhibitor-combinations-the-microbiome-and-cell-therapy-at-aacr-2018-300624638.html

SOURCE Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy