In cancer, most immunomodulatory therapeutic approaches to date have focused on enhancing T-cell responses, either by targeting inhibitory pathways, with immune checkpoint inhibitors, or by targeting activating pathways, as with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells and bispecific T-cell engagers (BiTEs).
Despite unprecedented clinical results, most cancer patients still do not benefit from these treatments, prompting to identify new cells and molecules that could be targeted in next generation immunotherapy. Along this line and based on the critical role of innate immunity in all immune responses, targeting innate immunity in cancer opens the possibility to mount a multilayered immune response culminating in long-lasting antitumor immunity.
This session will be focusing on the dissection of the role of innate immune cells and their clinical manipulation in cancer.