Key Points
- The Foundation recently held its fifth workshop to discuss the state of the field, current challenges, and the road forward for focused ultrasound and cancer immunotherapy.
- The meeting was hosted in partnership with the Cancer Research Institute and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.
- A white paper documenting the workshop’s discussion and results will be available soon.
The Foundation recently partnered with the Cancer Research Institute (CRI) and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) to host a workshop to discuss the state of the field, current challenges, and the road forward for focused ultrasound and cancer immunotherapy. The meeting took place July 18–19, 2023, in Arlington, Virginia.
This meeting was the Foundation’s fifth cancer immunotherapy workshop and served as an important stage to assess the progress made in recent years and ensure that the field continues along the path toward clinically relevant combination therapies. In total, nearly 80 attendees participated in the workshop, either in-person or virtually.
Participants agreed that the goal is to reduce the time it takes for focused ultrasound and cancer immunotherapy combination treatments to reach clinical adoption. To achieve this, the group spent the two days critically evaluating the current body of evidence, assessing the value of ongoing work, and creating a roadmap of projects that will address remaining gaps and questions.
“We are proud to have joined together with CRI and PICI to bring together a multi-disciplinary group of critical stakeholders – researchers, clinicians, industry, government, and others – in an environment that encouraged the free dissemination of information and ideas,” said the Foundation’s Chief Scientific Officer, Jessica Foley, PhD. “The continued collaboration of this community has increased the speed of progress we’ve made over the past several years and will be critical to future advancements.”
The two important initial outcomes from the meeting were assessing the state of the field with respect to the “burning questions” defined in previous workshops and developing a one- to two-year action plan. The “burning questions” defined in previous workshops are listed below.
- What are the comparative immune effects (i.e., signaling pathways/molecules) induced by different focused ultrasound modes? How do these compare to other therapies (i.e., radiation, cryoablation, RF ablation)?
- How do the immune effects of focused ultrasound vary by tumor type?
- What clinical disease targets are ideal for focused ultrasound plus immunotherapy combinations?
- How can we optimize focused ultrasound treatments for immunomodulation (i.e., drug combinations, partial vs total tumor treatment, timing of treatments)?
- What metrics can be used to predict clinical success (T-cell ratios, etc.)? In the absence of biopsies, can blood samples reliably predict response?
- Which new therapeutics may synergize with focused ultrasound?
The one- to two-year action plan describes projects that addresses the knowledge gaps in the field and can be potentially supported by the meeting sponsors.
A white paper documenting the workshop’s discussion and results will be made available soon.