Latest developments in cancer research and care highlighted at AACR annual meeting
Researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center gave nearly 50 presentations at the premier international cancer research meeting.
Senior Scientific Writer, University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting is a focal point of the cancer research community, where scientists, clinicians, healthcare professionals, survivors, patients and advocates gather to share the latest advances in cancer science and medicine.
The 115th AACR Annual Meeting took place in San Diego, California from April 5-10, 2024, welcoming more than 22,000 attendees from around the globe. This year’s Annual Meeting theme was “Inspiring Science, Fueling Progress, Revolutionizing Care.”
Researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCCCC) gave nearly 50 oral and poster presentations in various educational and scientific sessions.
On the first day of the meeting, Thomas Gajewski, MD, PhD, AbbVie Foundation Professor of Pathology, Professor of Medicine and Ben May Department of Cancer Research, presented in an educational session entitled “Evolving Insights on the Microbiome in Cancer” that addressed the links between the gut microbiome and cancer treatment outcomes. His talk was particularly focused on how microbiome-derived signals modulate anti-tumor immunity through myeloid cells.
Gajewski also chaired and delivered a talk in another session: “Mechanisms of Resistance: Why Have We Failed to Turn Cold Tumors Hot?” He addressed the importance of interactions between Batf3+ dendritic cells (DCs) and CD8+ T cells within tumor sites to improve immunotherapies and strategies to recruit and activate Batf3+ DCs in the tumor microenvironment (TME).
UCCCC trainees from the Diversity in Cancer Research (DICR), Cancer Health Equity Trainee Program (CHETP), and Chicago EYES (Educators and Youth Enjoy Science) on Cancer programs and UChicago undergraduate students presented posters at the 19th Annual AACR Undergraduate Student Caucus and Poster Competition (USCPC). This was an exciting, informative and engaging session for undergraduate students to explore future educational and career options in the cancer field while presenting their research and competing for prizes. Karen Lee, an undergraduate student in the laboratory of Marsha Rosner, PhD, was honored as one of the top ten undergraduates.
Richard Koya, MD, PhD, Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Director of cGMP Vector Development and Production Facility, presented in an educational session entitled, “Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy for Non-Immunologists: Strategies for Enhancing Adoptive Cellular Immunotherapy and Reprogramming the Tumor Microenvironment.” He discussed some of the challenges in TCR-T cell-based immunotherapies, such as how the tumor microenvironment suppresses the infiltrating T cells and spoke about how to overcome these challenges.
Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, AbbVie Foundation Distinguished Service Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Chair of the AACR Cancer Immunology Working Group, hosted a Town Hall meeting with a theme of “Crosstalk of Immune Cells and Metabolic Pathways in the Tumor-immune Microenvironment.” Odunsi gave an overview of the working group followed by three presentations by experts in the cancer immunology field, including current NCI director Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD.
Jing Chen, PhD, Janet Davison Rowley Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, also presented on the role of dietary nutrients in enhancing anti-tumor immunity in the Cancer Immunology Working group.
Ralph Weichselbaum, MD, Daniel K. Ludwig Distinguished Service Professor and Chair of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, presented in the “Advances in Diagnostics and Therapeutics” session. He discussed recent advancements and strategies to consider for treating oligometastatic cancer disease.
Alka Singh, PhD, recipient of AACR 2024 Scholar In Training Award.
Alka Singh, a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Evgeny Izumchenko, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, received the highly competitive AACR Annual Meeting Scholar-in-Training Award recognizing her outstanding work on the first comprehensive characterization of mitochondrial mutational landscape in the dynamic evolution of lung adenocarcinoma.
Marina Garassino, MD, Professor of Medicine, was a speaker for the “Clinical Trials Plenary Session.” She discussed the use of liquid biopsy to detect EGFR to guide treatment decisions for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Steven Chmura, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, Medicine, Neurological Surgery, Medical Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Director of Clinical and Translational Research for Radiation Oncology, moderated a Town Hall session hosted by Fei-Fei Liu, Chair of the AACR Radiation Science and Medicine Working Group. The theme of the session was “Advancing Radiation Oncology with Artificial Intelligence.” Attendees discussed hot topics in the field of radiation science and medicine research and participated in networking opportunities.
Maryellen Giger, PhD, A.N. Pritzker Distinguished Service Professor of Radiology, presented in a plenary session entitled “AI at the Interface: Accelerating Evidence Generation, Advancing Disparities Research, and Improving Trial Design.” She discussed the use of AI in medical imaging to detect and diagnose cancers early and make the right decision at the right time, along with various aspects of diversity, bias and disparities in research.
On the last day of the meeting, Sean Pitroda, MD, Associate Professor of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, presented in a major symposium session: “Genomic Instability and Metastasis.” He discussed how concurrent radiotherapy (RT) and ICB treatment benefits NSCLCs with high aneuploidy scores. He also highlighted strategies to integrate RT and ICB for metastatic NSCLCs and various other cancers based on clinical genomic sequencing architecture.
