This proposal is to request support for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled Molecular and Cellular Biology of Immune Escape in Cancer, organized by George C. Prendergast and Dmitry I. Gabrilovich, which will be held in Keystone, Colorado from February 7 - 12, 2010. It is now widely recognized that the immune microenvironment of a tumor provides critical support in determining its progression versus dormancy or destruction. To gain immune benefits, the tumor must evolve mechanisms of immune escape. Study of this crucial process requires cross-fertilization between molecular cell biologists and tumor immunologists, who do not often have opportunities to interact. This problem of immune escape overlaps with that of cancer inflammation, which has captured the attention of many tumor biologists. The Keystone Symposia meeting on Molecular and Cellular Biology of Immune Escape in Cancer is the first of its kind to integrate perspectives from a diverse set of researchers in cancer, immunology, and molecular therapeutics and to focus specifically on immune escape and tumor-induced immune suppression as a multidisciplinary problem. Opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions will be further enhanced by the concurrent meeting on Role of Inflammation in Oncogenesis, which will share two sessions and a keynote with this meeting.
Recent studies indicate that we are on the verge of a real breakthrough in our understanding of how tumors thwart the immune system and how correcting immune escape could vastly improve cancer therapy. However, the available mechanistic information presents a somewhat convoluted picture that includes some seemingly contradictory elements. There is a pressing need to define key questions and organize their development in coherent ways that can speed improvements in cancer therapy.
