Last month, the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center held the 11^th annual Charge Against Cancer focused on Understanding and Harnessing the Immune System for Cancer Prevention and Treatment. Established over ten years ago by co-director William L. Barrett, MD and co-hosted by Thomas J. Herzog, MD, the annual event encourages collaboration and focuses on critical aspects of cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and recovery.

“The annual Charge Against Cancer aims to unite people for innovation, learning, and collaboration through creative approaches,” said Dr. Barrett. “With a unique theme each year, the event gathers individuals who typically don’t interact, and it creates opportunities for them to learn from each other and form new working relationships. It serves as a break away from their usual, routine work to generate new ideas, concepts, and team dynamics.”

This year's event aimed to explore host immunocompetence and immunosurveillance from various perspectives, such as allergic responses, immunosuppression, microbiome, exercise, diet, sleep, immunotherapies and chronic inflammation. The event promoted interdisciplinary collaboration, particularly in developing tools to measure immunocompetence and understanding how environmental factors influence cancer risk and progression.

“This year, the goal was to do a deep dive into the immune system to determine if a test of immune competence could be developed that could reliably predict the development of cancer,” explained Dr. Herzog. “This understanding could lead to the discovery of novel cancer treatments. The range of multidisciplinary presentations sparked the creation of several multiteam collaborations, all focused on making significant discoveries in assessing immune health, predicting cancer development, and preventing tumor formation.”

William L. Barrett, MD Co-Director University of Cincinnati Cancer Center

Thomas J. Herzog, MD Member, Experimental Therapeutics Research Program University of Cincinnati Cancer Center Paul & Carolyn Flory Professor Chair, Data Safety & Monitoring Board University of Cincinnati College of Medicine President, Gynecologic Oncology Group Foundation

Three external researchers and five researchers from across the Cancer Center, University of Cincinnati, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center presented at this year’s Charge Against Cancer.

Summary of Keynote Presentations

“Exercise Modulation of the Immune Tumor Microenvironment”

Lee W. Jones, PhD Head, Exercise Oncology Program Attending Physiologist, Department of Medicine Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

As the Head of the Exercise Oncology Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Lee Jones, PhD, and his team investigates the effects and mechanisms of highly structured exercise therapy on two major focuses in individuals with or at-risk of cancer: (1) physiological toxicity of cancer and cancer treatment and (2) cancer pathogenesis / evolution. With an overall research focus on the efficacy and mechanisms of exercise training on cardiovascular toxicities and tumor initiation and progression, Dr. Jones shared some of his research surrounding the immune mechanisms underlying exercise, specifically regarding the cancer pathogenesis link, and the exercise to augment immunotherapy response.

According to the NIH’s National Cancer Institute, immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that aids your immune system in fighting cancer. The immune system, which is made up of white blood cells and organs and tissues of the lymph system, helps your body fight infections and other diseases. A positive immunotherapy response is indicated by a shrinking or stable tumor. However, there are several other patterns of response to immunotherapy, including: 

• Pseudoprogression: progression before a response to treatment 
• Hyperprogression: a pattern that requires early assessment of patients 
• Dissociated responses: a pattern that may warrant discussion of local

“Immunotherapy Response and Toxicity: The Role of Energy Balance, Diet & the Microbiome”

Jennifer L. McQuade, MD, MS, MA, LAc Associate Professor, Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology UT MD Anderson Cancer Center

Jennifer McQuade, MD, focuses her research on how lifestyle factors influence melanoma biology and the anti-tumor immune response with the goal of developing novel strategies to improve outcomes in melanoma. Additionally, the McQuade Laboratory at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center studies how potentially modifiable host factors, such as diet and obesity, impact tumor biology, the gut microbiome, and immune response. Dr. McQuade joined the event to share recent findings on the role of energy balance, diet, and the microbiome in regard to immunotherapy response and toxicity.

“Immunogenicity: Touchstone to Anti-Tumor and Auto-Immunity”

Cassian Yee, MD Professor, Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology UT MD Anderson Cancer Center

Cassian Yee, MD, is considered a pioneer in the field of adoptive cellular therapy, and he has developed specialized forms of antigen-specific T cell therapy for the treatment of patients with cancer. Furthermore, the Yee Laboratory at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has been committed to studying tumor and viral immunology to advance the use of adoptive cellular therapy for the last 20 years. Dr. Yee and his team have focused on understanding human T cell biology and anti-tumor immunity as well as the development of translational strategies, which has led to several first-in-human studies of adoptive therapy using antigen-specific T cells. Dr. Yee joined the event to share recent findings on immunogenicity.

According to the NIH’s National Cancer Institute, immunogenicity is the ability of a substance that contains antigens to cause the body to make an immune response against that substance. The immune system recognizes antigens on the surface of substances it sees as foreign, such as vaccines, bacteria, viruses, or cancer cells, and causes an immune response against them. The strength of an immune response depends on how immunogenic a substance is.