By: Dr. Laura Kuhlmann, ORT Times Science Writer
Conference: 2020 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, Virtual Meeting I, April 27–28
Conference highlight: The first of two virtual AACR meetings focused on the latest clinical trial results and emerging drug developments in cancer research.
Conference summary: Founded in 1907, the AACR is the world’s oldest and largest professional cancer research association.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s AACR annual meeting was moved online and split in two parts. The first virtual meeting, which took place between April 27–28, consisted of 40 plenary sessions, 60 mini-symposia and nearly 125 poster videos. All videos were available to more than 47,000 attendees from over 103 countries following free registration.
Many presenters highlighted advances in targeted therapies and treatments modulating the immune system. These new approaches are being developed in the hope that they will cause fewer side effects compared to standard chemotherapy or radiation therapy. A novel biologic combining the two approaches called Imprime PGG was introduced by Dr. Steve O’Day from the John Wayne Cancer Institute. The drug’s main ingredient is a sugar found in the cell walls of bacteria and fungi (beta-glucan) which targets a protein found on the surface of immune cells (Dectin-1), while also engaging the innate immune system to mount an anti-tumour response. Imprime PGG is currently in phase II clinical trials for metastatic breast cancer. The benefits of targeted and immune therapies for patient quality of life was emphasized by Dr. Kelly Bolton of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who showed that patients receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy displayed increased clonal hematopoiesis, a condition which raises patient’s risks of developing blood cancers later in life.
Furthermore, the session “COVID-19 and Cancer” discussed the pandemic’s impact on cancer research, patient treatment and addressed how oncology drugs could be repurposed for COVID-19 treatment.
Participants interacted with the presenters in the live sessions through virtual chat, while also benefitting from a flexible viewing schedule. Overall, the interactive virtual meeting allowed the dissemination of new data and initiation of international collaborations.