Webinar: Exploiting Tumor Hypoxia for Targeted Immunotherapy

While immune-based therapies have been approved for treatment of hematological malignancies, such as Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL), Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL), solid tumors have proven more challenging.  One critical factor in this ongoing search for effective immunotherapy is the dynamic landscape of the tumor microenvironment (TME). Hypoxia is a common feature of the TME, as tumor growth often outpaces the blood supply. It is well established that hypoxic conditions contribute both to tumor metastasis and immunosuppression. In this webinar, you will learn more about the complex relationship between hypoxia in the TME and immunotherapy. First, Dr. Gregory Delgoffe will discuss how hypoxia driven metabolic changes in T cells can lead to T cell exhaustion and modulation of hypoxia can improve response to checkpoint blockade. Then, Dr. James Arnold will share one strategy to improve cellular immunotherapy by exploiting the hypoxic TME.

Learning Objectives:

• The role of hypoxia in mitochondrial dysfunction and T cell exhaustion
• Improving response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy by modulating the cellular response to hypoxia
• Engineering of a hypoxia-sensing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell
• Selective expression of CAR within tumor limits non-specific activation of CAR T cells targeting a ubiquitously expressed protein

Speakers: 

Gregory Delgoffe, Ph.D.,

Associate Professor Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh and Member, Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Program at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center

 James Arnold, Ph.D.,

Reader, School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King’s College London and Leader, Tumor Immunology Group