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Cancer & Immuno-Oncology overview glossary & taxonomy
Evolving Terminology for Emerging Technologies
Comments? Questions? Revisions? 
Mary Chitty MSLS  mchitty@healthtech.com
Last revised January 09, 2020

SCOPE NOTE Cancer and oncology include immuno-oncology, liquid biopsies, CAR T Cell therapies, circulating tumor cells, neoantigen targeted therapies, NK Natural Killer Cells based cancer immunotherapies, cancer vaccines, oncolytic virus immunotherapies, tumor microenvironment

Related glossaries & taxonomies   Cancer & Immuno-oncology    Molecular Diagnostics     Molecular Medicine  

Adoptive T Cell Therapy  August 11-12., 2020  Boston, MA  Efforts to engineer CAR Ts, NKs, TCRs, and TILs with greater precision, safety profiles, and efficacy are leading to the second generation of improved adoptive cell therapies. With multiple engineered receptors already making preclinical impact, many biotech and pharma companies are preparing for the next wave of clinical trials. The end goal is still the same: improved patient outcomes. However, there remain technical considerations and translational challenges relating to cell therapy development, manufacturing practicability, clinical trial approaches, cell quality and persistence, and patient management  https://www.immuno-oncologysummit.com/T-Cell/
Adoptive T Cell Therapy : Development  August 10-14 , 2020  Boston, MA https://www.immuno-oncologysummit.com/Adoptive-T-Cell-Therapy-Development/ | In 2017, two CAR T cell therapies were approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With multiple engineered receptors making preclinical impact, many biotech and pharma companies are already entering other clinical trials in a race to get to market. Has this promising field finally reached a tipping point? Technical considerations and translational challenges relating to cell therapy development, manufacturing practicability, clinical trial approaches, cell quality and persistence, and patient management remain. 

antibodies cancer therapy: Antibodies for Cancer Therapy Driving Breakthrough Therapies May 4-5, 2020 Boston MA Program  Antibodies have become the most sought-after tools in drug discovery, with bispecific antibodies and cell engagers leading the pack of new constructs. New insights on the tumor microenvironment and the microbiome can determine how successful a therapeutic strategy will be, and new imaging tools will help improve delivery of antibody drugs 

https://www.pegsummit.com/Cancer-Antibodies/

ANTIBODY DRUG CONJUGATES 2020 May 6-7 BOSTON MA A successful ADC requires the combination of the right target, right antibody, right linker and the right payload. Getting it right can create ADCs that have the potential to become a life-saving medicine for many diseases, especially cancer. https://www.pegsummit.com/Antibody-Drug-Conjugates/  

Bispecific Antibodies to the Clinic for Oncology  Advancing Bispecific Antibodies and Combination Therapy to the Clinic Creating the Killer Combo May 6-7, 2020 BOSTON MA / The development of bispecific antibodies is one of the hottest areas in biologic research at the moment and their advancement to preclinical and clinical development will determine what the future of this area will look like.   https://www.pegsummit.com/Bispecific-Antibodies-For-Oncology

Bispecific Antibodies for Cancer Immunotherapy  August 10-12 2020 Boston, MA | Engaging multiple receptors with bispecific biologics offers the potential to improve upon single-agent checkpoint blockade and promises to be the next generation of immunotherapy with preclinical, translational and clinical studies on using bispecific antibodies for dual blockade of checkpoint targets, T-cell-redirecting bispecific biologics, overcoming T-cell exhaustion, as well as strategies to improve efficacy and reduce toxicity, and engineer the next generation of bi- and multi-specific biologics.  https://www.immuno-oncologysummit.com/Bispecific-Antibodies-Immunotherapy/

cancer immunotherapies: Engineering Next-Generation Cancer Immunotherapies January, 2020 San Diego, CA Based on the clinical successes of checkpoint inhibitors, the industry is now directing its attention to combination treatments, single agent therapeutics with multiple modes of action, confronting resistance mechanisms, reducing toxicity and the persistent challenge of solid tumors. https://www.chi-peptalk.com/cancer-immunotherapies

CAR T-cell therapy: A type of treatment in which a patient's T cells (a type of immune system cell) are changed in the laboratory so they will attack cancer cells. T cells are taken from a patient’s blood. Then the gene for a special receptor that binds to a certain protein on the patient’s cancer cells is added in the laboratory. The special receptor is called a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). Large numbers of the CAR T cells are grown in the laboratory and given to the patient by infusion. CAR T-cell therapy is being studied in the treatment of some types of cancer. Also called chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms?cdrid=771302

Circulating Tumor Cells  March 2-4, 2020 • San Francisco, CA  https://www.triconference.com/Circulating-Tumor-Cells | Circulating tumor cells and cell-free tumor DNA have dominated the headlines for the past decade and presently new liquid biopsy tests are entering the clinic. These will enable improved diagnosis of cancer, early detection, and a new era of companion diagnostics for therapy selection, monitoring, predicting outcomes, and measuring the risk of recurre

Emerging Immuno-Oncology Targets  August 11-12, 2020 Boston, MA | While cancer immunotherapy has made a giant leap in the past five years, the majority of therapies at advanced stages of development are clustered in a similar target space. The increased investment in immuno-oncology has created an urgent opportunity to discover and populate new target spaces that either present new classes of immunotherapies or can be used in combination with existing products. https://www.immuno-oncologysummit.com/Immuno-Oncology-Targets/

Engineering Next-Generation Cancer Immunotherapies January 20-21, 2020 • San Diego, CA  https://www.chi-peptalk.com/cancer-immunotherapies/  Based on the clinical successes of checkpoint inhibitors, the industry is now directing its attention to combination treatments, single agent therapeutics with multiple modes of action, confronting resistance mechanisms, reducing toxicity and the persistent challenge of solid tumors.

immuno-oncology IO:  As our understanding of tumor immunology has advanced, immuno-oncology has made unprecedented progress in improving the outcomes for cancer patients. Immuno-Oncology Summit 2020 Aug 10-14 https://www.immuno-oncologysummit.com/   

Immuno-Oncology Biomarkers & Companion Diagnostics Predicting Response and Guiding Patient Selection in IO Trials and Patient Care MARCH 2-4, 2020 San Francisco CA Recent advances in cancer immunotherapy have generated excitement across all fields of oncology. However, the field is still experiencing a lack of predictive biomarkers and patient selection remains difficult. Challenges in discovering predictive biomarkers for cancer immunotherapy involve multiple cell types, multiple mechanisms of T-cell regulation, genetic heterogeneity of tumors, immune components.  https://www.triconference.com/Preclinical-Immuno-Oncology-Biomarkers

Immuno-Oncology Summit Europe  March 9-12, 2020  South Quay London  https://www.immuno-oncologyeurope.com/ |  Harnessing the immune system for breakthrough therapies
Adoptive T-Cell Therapy  March 10-122, 2020  South Quay London  https://www.immuno-oncologyeurope.com/t-cell-therapy/ |  The therapeutic potential of adoptive cell therapy was first acknowledged a couple of decades ago, but it was only recently that we transformed adoptive cell therapy into a viable therapeutic option for patients by the two CAR T cell therapies approved by the FDA. Although this is a very exciting time for adoptive cell therapy, there is still much to be done to reach its full potential including other novel cell therapies beyond T cells.  
Biomarkers for Immuno-Oncology March 11-12, 2020  South Quay London Patient stratification and selection is a crucial step for those developing and providing immunotherapy. However, the heterogeneity of tumours makes it difficult to develop accurate predictive biomarkers for cancer patient populations. Thankfully there is a significant effort across academia and industry to do just this. Combining outputs from genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics, as well as looking into more discreet blood niches, such as circulating tumour cells and exosomes, may indeed provide the answers we need.  https://www.immuno-oncologyeurope.com/biomarkers-immuno-oncology
Combination Immunotherapy  March 11-12, 2020  South Quay London  |  Treating patients with an immunotherapy combination has become commonplace for many cancers. With an abundance of combinations to choose from and plenty more clinical trials ongoing, it is difficult to know which combinations will be most effective. Whether double immunotherapy combinations or immune checkpoint inhibitors combined with conventional cancer therapy, there are numerous factors that may influence therapeutic success, with varying degrees of supporting evidence. Predictive biomarkers, neoantigens, therapeutic mechanism, reducing toxicity and the immune response are all important considerations. https://www.immuno-oncologyeurope.com/combination-immunotherapy/
Immunomodulatory Approches  March 10-11 , 2020  South Quay London  |  With an abundance of immunotherapies and increasing biomarker availability, there are ever more choices for oncologists looking to employ the immune system in their treatment plans. The tumour microenvironment, and all its heterogeneity, represents a huge challenge in stratifying patient populations and selecting immunomodulatory therapies.we will discuss how immune cells and cytokines can be activated or suppressed to elicit a desired treatment response with a focus on T cell effectors, myeloid-derived suppressor cells and bispecific antibody Fc engagement. https://www.immuno-oncologyeurope.com/immunomodulatory-approache

immunotherapy: A type of biological therapy that uses substances to stimulate or suppress the immune system to help the body fight cancer, infection, and other diseases. Some types of immunotherapy only target certain cells of the immune system. Others affect the immune system in a general way. Types of immunotherapy include cytokines, vaccines, bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), and some monoclonal antibodies. NCI Dictionary of Cancer terms https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/immunotherapy

Improving Immunotherapy Efficacy and Safety  May 4-5, 2020 Boston, MA  focuses on the latest innovations, science, novel targets, and modalities being adopted to improve immunotherapy efficacy and safety. Topics include: new approaches to immunity, the tumor microenvironment, novel IO targets and engineering strategies, emerging modalities, such as NK Cells and Gamma Deltas, immune tolerance, TREGs, plus effective strategies to mitigate toxicity. Examples will come from the world of checkpoint inhibitors, adoptive T cell therapy, combinations, cancer vaccines, oncolytic viruses, and novel immunotherapy approaches. https://www.pegsummit.com/Immunotherapy


liquid biopsy: June 15-17, 2020, Seattle WA  Biofluids consist of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), infectious organisms, cell-free nucleic acid (cfNA), or extracellular vesicles (EVs) from multiple tissues or infectious agents within the body. The rapid development of highly sensitive and accurate analytical tools allows researchers to determine the role of these biomarkers in health, disease, and treatment response. Thus, precision medicine is increasingly expanding into the clinic as therapies based on these molecular profiles are actively being developed and used in patients. Of course, before the goal of high clinical utility can be achieved, liquid biopsies must pass rigorous analytic validation.     https://www.liquidbiopsysummit.com/  Related term: circulating tumor cells

Obtaining material for pathological examination and analysis, from bodily fluids. Material retrieved includes CELL-FREE NUCLEIC ACIDS; CELL-DERIVED MICROPARTICLES; EXOSOMES; CIRCULATING NEOPLASM CELLS; and other circulating cells and CELLULAR STRUCTURES. MeSH Year introduced: 2018

Liquid biopsy enabling technologies  August 25-26, 2020 Washington, DC https://www.nextgenerationdx.com/circulating-tumor-cells/ | The technologies in the liquid biopsy field have been maturing rapidly and are on their path to revolutionize the management of cancer patients. However, in the increasingly crowded landscape of all the diagnostic approaches, it can be overwhelming to identify the key technologies that are showing promises and have potential to be implemented in clinical practices.

Neoantigen Targeted Therapies  August 13-14, 2020 Boston, MA | Fueled with advances in genomic technologies, personalized oncology promises to innovate cancer therapy and target previously undruggable space. Developments in NGS technology enabled systematic analysis of patient-specific mutanome and opens the door to developing personalized cancer vaccines and other therapies targeting neoantigens. https://www.immuno-oncologysummit.com/Neoantigen-Targeted-Therapies/

Neoantigens: A neoantigenic determinant is an epitope on a neoantigen, which is a newly formed antigen that has not been previously recognized by the immune system.^[1] Neoantigens are often associated with tumor antigens and are found in oncogenic cells.^[2] Neoantigens and, by extension, neoantigenic determinants can be formed when a protein undergoes further modification within a biochemical pathway such as glycosylation, phosphorylation or proteolysis. This, by altering the structure of the protein, can produce new epitopes that are called neoantigenic determinants as they give rise to new antigenic determinants. Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoantigenic_determinant

oncolytic virotherapy:  August 10-11, 2020 Boston MA https://www.immuno-oncologysummit.com/Oncolytic-Virus-Immunotherapy/  The use of oncolytic viruses has expanded rapidly over the past five years with interest in the field at an all-time high following recent scientific breakthroughs and multi-million dollar investments from big pharma.

Preclinical and Translational Immuno-Oncology August 11-12, 2020 Boston, MA | The recent advancements in immunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint modulators, bispecific antibodies, and adoptive T cell transfer, are shifting the way cancer patients are treated. Rapid development of novel immuno-oncology programs is creating the need for predictive preclinical models and translational strategies to understand combination immunotherapy, study responses and resistance to cancer immunotherapy, and identify novel biomarkers and targets. https://www.immuno-oncologysummit.com/Preclinical-Immuno-Oncology/

Small Molecules for Immunology and Oncology  APRIL 15-16, 2020 San Diego CA Evidence is mounting that autoimmunity/inflammation versus cancer can be considered two sides of the same coin. Inflammation arises when the immune system is overactive whereas cancer is largely a result of an underactive or subverted immune system. Hence medicinal chemists often design drugs against the same target for these seemingly opposite diseases: developing antagonists to inhibit autoimmunity/inflammation or agonists for the same molecular target to activate the immune system against cancer. We hope you can join fellow chemists at this event to share strategies, successes and challenges in discovering and optimizing drug candidates that have the potential to be orally bioavailable modulators of the immune system be it for cancer or other diseases.

https://www.drugdiscoverychemistry.com/Small-Molecule-Immunology

Tumor antigen: an antigenic substance produced in tumor cells, i.e., it triggers an immune response in the host. Tumor antigens are useful tumor markers in identifying tumor cells with diagnostic tests and are potential candidates for use in cancer therapy. Wikipedia accessed 2018 August 8  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumor_antigen

tumor microenvironment (TME):  Targeting the Tumour Microenvironment, Nov 18-19 2019, Lisbon Portugal   innovations for enhancing the immune anti-tumour response and overcoming inhibitory factors. It is becoming clear that many immunosuppressive mechanisms are at work. The checkpoint inhibitors are not living up to expectations, and for these and other antagonists to be effective, it is necessary to control Tregs and manipulate myeloid-derived and other suppressor cells in the tumour microenvironment (TME). The leaders in the field are also paying attention to the role of cytokines and the importance of Fc-engagement for effective targeting. https://www.pegsummiteurope.com/tumour-microenvironment

tumoroid: An aggregate of cancer cells formed in vitro  Wiktionary https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tumoroid#English

Cancer Resources
Therapeutic indications Conferences: http://www.healthtech.com/conferences/upcoming.aspx?s=RXXS 

NCI National Cancer Institute, Dictionary of cancer terms, about 8,800 terms. http://www.cancer.gov/dictionary/


How to look for other unfamiliar  terms

IUPAC definitions are reprinted with the permission of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.