Key Points
- The Foundation partnered with the Cancer Research Institute (CRI) to host a two-day virtual workshop to discuss recent advances in the use of focused ultrasound for cancer immunotherapy.
- Video recordings of the presentations are now available.
- A summary of the workshop is also available.
The Foundation partnered with the Cancer Research Institute (CRI) to host a two-day virtual workshop, September 1-2, 2021, to discuss the role of focused ultrasound for immune-based treatment of cancer and the path to move the field forward.
This invitation-only workshop convened 85 leaders in the field, including focused ultrasound experts; oncologists; immunologists; and representatives from the National Institutes of Health, the US Food and Drug Administration, and other vital nonprofit organizations.
“A primary goal of the workshop was to identify current challenges as well as potential future research directions for focused ultrasound and immune-based cancer treatments,” said the Foundation’s chief scientific officer, Jessica Foley, PhD. “We also discussed ways that the Foundation and CRI could support future projects in this space. CRI has become an invaluable partner for the Foundation, and we are eager to see where this field leads in the coming years.”
Attendees watched 13 prerecorded presentations prior to logging in for 11 live presentations and 7 moderated discussions over the 1.5-day event. The presentations and group discussions are now available on the Foundation’s YouTube channel.
Prerecorded content included:
- Introduction to the Focused Ultrasound Foundation by Jessica Foley, PhD
- Introduction to the Cancer Research Institute by Jill O’Donnell-Tormey, PhD
- Introduction to the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy by Theresa LaVallee
- Treatment Reporting Guidelines by Gail ter Haar, PhD
- Turning Up the Heat: Using Non-thermal Histotripsy to Shift the Immunosuppressive Tumor Microenvironment from “Cold” to “Hot”, Augmenting Systemic Anti-Tumor Immune System Activation by I. Coy Allen, PhD, MBA
- Focused Ultrasound and Immunotherapy by Katherine Ferrara, PhD
- Hyperthermia and Cancer Immunity: Some Brief Comments with Implications for Focused Ultrasound by Elizabeth Repasky, PhD
- Immunological Effects of Boiling Histotripsy Tumor Ablation by Tatiana Khokhlova, PhD
- Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound’s Effect on the Immune Response by Petros Mouratidis, PhD
- Immune Response to BBB/BTB Opening with Focused Ultrasound by Rich Price, PhD
- Overview of Radio Therapy’s Effect on the Immune Response by Chandan Guha, MBBS, PhD
- FUS Mediated Immunomodulation in Glioblastoma – A Multi-Center Consortium Approach by Pavlos Anastasiadis, PhD
- June 2021 Fireside Chat on Focused Ultrasound and Cancer Immunotherapy by Jessica Foley, PhD, Jill O’Donnell-Tormey, PhD, and Theresa LaVallee
Live presentations included:
- Focused Ultrasound Cancer Therapies – Brief Overview of Different Focused Ultrasound Modalities by Eli Vlaisavljevich, PhD
- Focused Ultrasound Immune Impact in Liver Tumors by Joan Vidal-Jove, MD, PhD
- HIFU for Pancreatic Cancer – Challenges and Future Directions by Keaton Jones, MD, and Srikanth Reddy, MBBS, FRCS, PhD
- A Clinical Trial of Focused Ultrasound with Low-Dose Gemcitabine to Augment Immune Control of Early-Stage Breast Cancer by Patrick Dillon, MD
- Potential of Focused Ultrasound as an Immunotherapy Tool for Treatment of Melanoma by Lynn Dengel, MD
- Focused Ultrasound and Immunotherapy for Glioblastoma by Michael Lim, MD
- Q&A on Trial Design by Theresa LaVallee
- Engineering Remotely Controllable CAR T Cells for Cancer Immunotherapy by Peter YingXiao Wang, PhD
- Guidelines for Immune Analysis of Focused Ultrasound Treatment by Frederic Padilla, PhD
- Introduction to Imaging Applications in Immuno-Oncology by Natasha Sheybani, PhD
- Multi-Omic Biomarker Analysis for Tumor and Immune Learnings in Clinical Studies by Theresa LaVallee
Moderated open discussion topics included:
- Immune Effects by Focused Ultrasound Modality
- Immune Effects by Tumor Type
- Clinical Disease Targets
- Optimizing Focused Ultrasound for Immunomodulation
- Role for Focused Ultrasound in Therapeutic Delivery
- Metrics to Predict Clinical Success
- Knowledge Gaps, Funding Gaps, Pharma Partnerships, Wish List
A summary of the workshop is also available.