Last week, 340 researchers from 23 different countries traveled to the majestic University Halls in Leuven for the first edition of the ‘recent insights into Immuno-Oncology’ conference.
The two-day scientific program was packed with renowned speakers, including Hongbo Chi (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, US) and Maria Rescigno (Humanitas University, IT). They shared their recent insights and discoveries from different perspectives. In addition to the 19 invited speakers, 4 upcoming researchers got the opportunity to take to the stage and share their research with the immune-oncology community, and 5 poster pitchers were selected from the 92 poster presenters. These posters displayed an impressive level of research, which made the selection of 2 poster prize winners a challenging task. The journals Nature Reviews Cancer and EMBO Molecular Medicine awarded the poster prizes to Lucia Rodriguez Rodriguez of the University of Liège and Federica Cappellesso of the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology.
During the breaks, the insights presented in the talks and posters were discussed while exploring the company booths.. These exciting scientific debates continued in the breathtaking setting of the restored buildings of the Grand Beguinage, a UNESCO world heritage site, where the attendees had a chance to relax in the sunshine and enjoy the conference dinner.
In the words of Co-organizers Max Mazzone and Patrizia Agostinis:
This conference had brought in the spotlight diverse molecular, preclinical and clinical aspects which are key to increase the success of current immunotherapies and has unravelled novel strategies that could be effective alone or in association to the existing therapeutic approaches. We believe that one of the main successes of the conference was to bring together people from different onco-immunology fields – speakers and attendees. We have seen outstanding leaders, covering different areas of research of the cancer immunology and immunotherapy fields, coming together to discuss their innovative fundamental and translational approaches.
The topics that the program blended together are complementary. From an antigen specific vaccine (with programs to predict the best antigen within a certain tumor in a certain patient) we can now talk of MHC or even tumor-agnostic vaccinations – which can overcome the difficulties in defining universal antigens that can be valid across different patient subsets. The conference gave an overview of the complexity of the tumor immunity cycle and of the dialogue between cancer cells and immune cells at the local and systemic levels: therefore, we learnt how cell and system metabolism, microbiota, organ communications, can all influence disease outcome and response to immunotherapies. In many cases, it became clear that oncogenic targeting is still the way to sensitize the tumor to immunotherapies – therefore reopening a field that was considered so far over-studied.
We have learned how precision oncology (supported more and more by the integration of state-of-the-art single cell and spatial omics approaches) can help to identify the best immunotherapeutic regimen. The role of several cells, their communications, novel immune checkpoints, and novel cell-based or cell-depleting, antibody-based or small molecule-based therapies have been all presented, some more in preclinical studies, others more advanced. In the step towards viewing cancer immunity from different angles, our department is fully integrated.
Here are the impressions of the three conference reporters of the event:
Samanta Pretto (PhD Student at VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology):
As a researcher in the field of immunometabolism, I was delighted to play an active role in the ‘Recent insights into Immuno-Oncology’ conference. A lot of effort in the field goes to better dissecting T-cell exhaustion and dysfunction. In this sense, I found the talk of Andrea Schietinger (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, US) particularly interesting. By studying T-cells in two apparently opposite contexts, cancer and autoimmunity, she identified a stem cell-like population sustaining type 1 diabetes.
For me, the cherry on top of the cake was being selected for a short talk and sharing my findings with top researchers in the field. The scientific discussion left me with useful food for thought.
Last but not least, I am grateful for the amazing opportunity to be a conference reporter, which introduced me to an extended scientific network. I can’t wait for the second edition of this conference!
Francesca Rizzollo (PhD Student at VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology):
I had a great time as a conference reporter at ’Recent insights into Immuno-Oncology’, a conference where many top speakers in the field discussed their recent (un)published data. Overall, I was impressed by the significance and impact of the science presented. The most inspiring lecture for me was that of Mikala Egeblad (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, US), who – starting from an unexpected apparently ‘negative’ result – built a super interesting line of work in her lab. The team eventually unraveled a link between chronic stress and metastasis!
I was also impressed by Sergio Quezada (University College London Cancer institute, UK), who guided us through the incredible story of anti-CD25 antibodies that target suppressive regulatory T-cells in cancer and their therapeutic potential. I look forward to hearing the next chapters of these stories at the second edition of VIB Immuno-Oncology!
Laurien Van Dyck (Grand Challenges portfolio officer at VIB):
After leaving the beautiful city of Leuven and the exciting field of immune-oncology, it was great to be back in my habitat. I enjoyed every minute of the conference and feel like being a conference reporter gave me the extra push to actively take part in the discussions and to share my excitement on Twitter. As a dendritic cel fan, I enjoyed the opening talk of Michele De Palma (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), CH) about enhancing DC cross-dressing, but the T-cell dynamics talk of Alexandre Harari (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Lausanne, CH) also really caught my attention.
While all the scientific talks were amazing, the interaction during poster sessions and breaks still is my favorite part, especially because I could catch up with ex-colleagues or collaborators. I even brought my mum to the public outreach lecture the evening before the conference 😊
I’ll make sure to block my agenda for the next edition!
The conference covered a wide spectrum of research lines in the field of immuno-oncology, highlighting both the recent insights and the open questions and hurdles. By bringing together researchers, industry partners, and clinicians, potential solutions were explored and seeds for future collaborations were planted.
Thanks to all participants for making this a memorable first edition. We can’t wait to welcome you again at a future VIB Conference.
