Precision Immunotherapy Session in Fort Lauderdale
- Researchers presented strategies to overcome immunotherapy resistance at a Miami-area precision medicine conference in Fort Lauderdale. - Talks included Datta J's session on precision immunotherapy and pancreatic cancer, given April 11–12. - Attendees discussed targeted approaches and resistance mechanisms, highlighting local research collaboration importance. (cancernetwork.com)
Immunotherapy can train the immune system to attack cancer, but pancreatic tumors usually shut that attack down before it starts. At a Fort Lauderdale cancer meeting on April 11, surgeon-scientist Jashodeep Datta laid out ways to make those tumors more responsive. (cancernetwork.com) Datta’s talk, “Mission Impossible? Strategies for Precision Immunotherapy in Pancreatic Cancer,” was scheduled for 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, April 11, during the 3rd Biennial Miami Precision Medicine Conference at The Ritz-Carlton, Fort Lauderdale. The two-day meeting ran April 11–12 and was organized by Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of Miami Health System. (umiamihealth.org) Precision medicine means matching treatment to the biology of a specific tumor instead of treating every patient the same way. The Fort Lauderdale program covered gene sequencing, circulating tumor DNA blood tests, tumor boards, melanoma, brain tumors, and early drug development alongside pancreatic cancer. (umiamihealth.org) Pancreatic cancer has been especially hard for immunotherapy because its tumor microenvironment acts like a fortified neighborhood around the cancer. Datta told CancerNetwork that even pancreatic cancer subgroups with biomarkers that often predict immunotherapy benefit in other solid tumors still usually do not respond in the pancreas. (cancernetwork.com) His approach was to stop treating pancreatic cancer as a single disease and instead look for smaller patient subsets that might benefit from different immune strategies. CancerNetwork reported that Datta focused on changing the tumor environment itself so the disease becomes more “immunotherapy-receptive,” rather than assuming standard checkpoint drugs will work on their own. (cancernetwork.com) That message fits Datta’s broader research program in Miami. Sylvester says his lab studies myeloid-cell signaling, T-cell dysfunction, and stromal inflammation in pancreatic cancer, all of which are mechanisms that can keep immune cells ineffective inside the tumor. (sjzgac-act.net) Sylvester also announced in March that Datta had received the Stanley J. Glaser Award for work aimed at decoding immune-driven treatment resistance and moving more precise immunotherapy earlier in care for patients eligible for surgery. The university said that proposal emphasized neoadjuvant treatment, meaning therapy given before an operation. (news.med.miami.edu) The conference itself was built around that kind of locally linked research and care network. University of Miami materials described the April 11–12 meeting as a forum for clinicians, researchers, patients, and advocates to examine how molecular and data-driven tools are changing cancer treatment. (umiamihealth.org, news.med.miami.edu) In Fort Lauderdale, the practical takeaway was narrow but concrete: pancreatic immunotherapy is not being abandoned. Researchers are trying to identify which tumors to target, which resistance pathways to block, and when in treatment to intervene so the immune system has a better chance to work. (cancernetwork.com), (news.med.miami.edu)
