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Description:
This session will describe the cellular mechanisms mediated by immune checkpoint proteins, which serve as an important regulator of the adaptive cellular immune response. In the past decade, our understanding of negative regulators of T cell immune responses has rapidly expanded, resulting in multiple new therapies and impressive clinical successes in the therapy of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. This session will provide a broad overview of checkpoint inhibition and its therapeutic potential in the setting of solid tumors, alloreactivity and treatment of hematologic neoplasms.
Dr. Allison will describe the role of CTLA-4 in the regulation of human T cell responses, and discuss how an understanding of CTLA-4 signaling has been translated successfully to the treatment of a broad range of human malignancies.
Dr. Blazar will describe the consequences of PD-L1 engagement with the PD-1 receptor, and its importance in the regulation of T cell responses. He will also discuss the importance of this pathway in the regulation of alloreactivity leading to the development of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Finally, Dr. Wu will discuss the potential synergy between checkpoint blockade and other immunotherapeutic approaches relevant to hematologic malignancies, including therapeutic vaccination strategies.