Commentary
Defining the critical hurdles in cancer immunotherapy
1 Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, Robert W. Franz Research Center, Providence Cancer Center, Providence Portland Medical Center, Portland, OR, USA
2 Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA
3 Institute of Molecular Immunology and Clinical Cooperation Group "Immune Monitoring", Helmholtz Centre Munich, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Munich, Germany
4 Departments of Medicine, Division of Hematology Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
5 Department of Surgery University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
6 Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
7 Department of Clinical Cancer Research, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
8 Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
9 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York, NY, USA
10 Medical Oncology and Innovative Therapy, Instituto Nazionale Tumori-Fondazione 'G. Pascale', Naples, Italy
11 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
12 Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
13 Institute of Immunology, FOCIS Center of Excellence, 2nd Medical School, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
14 Goethe Universität Frankfurt Am Main,Medizinische Klinik II, Frankfurt Am Main, Germany
15 IRX Therapeutics, New York, NY, USA
16 Instituto Nacional para o Controle do Câncer, Instituto de Pesquisas Biomédicas, PUCRS Faculdade de Biociências, PUCRS, Porto Alegre RS Brazil
17 Department of Translational Hematology and Oncology Research, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
18 Department of Solid Tumor Oncology, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
19 Department of Pathology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
20 University Medical Center Mainz, III. Medical Department, Mainz, Germany
21 Ribological GmbH, Mainz, Germany
22 Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
23 Institute of Immunology, National Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China
24 Department of Surgery, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
25 Department of Surgery, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI
26 Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
27 University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
28 Ovarian Cancer Research Center, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, A, USA
29 Department of Medical Oncology, VU Medical Center, Cancer Center Amsterdam Amsterdam, The Netherlands
30 Hoag Institute for Research and Education, Hoag Cancer Institute, Newport Beach, CA, USA
31 Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
32 Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA
33 Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
34 Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
35 Academic Department of Clinical Oncology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
36 Department of Immunology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA
37 INSERM U872, Cordeliers Research Center, Paris, France
38 Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA
39 Institute for Cell Biology, Department of Immunology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
40 Istituto Clinico Humanitas, IRCCS, Milan, Italy
41 Oncology Department, Oncology Institute Bari, Italy
42 University of Lund, Lund, Sweden
43 CanImGuide Therapeutics AB, Hoellviken, Sweden
44 University of California, San Francisco, CA and Celgene Corporation, San Francisco, CA, USA
45 Intrexon Corporation, Germantown,MD, USA
46 Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
47 Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA
48 Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Wallingford, Connecticut, USA
49 Translational Oncology & Immunology Centre TRON at the Mainz University Medical Center, Mainz, Germany
50 Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
51 The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
52 Department of Oncology, the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD, USA
53 ZellNet Consulting, Inc., Fort Lee, NJ, USA
54 Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
55 Rush University Cancer Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA
56 School of Medicine and Public Health, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
57 Division of Cellular Signaling, Institute for Advanced Medical Research, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
58 Dept. of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Charité Comprehensive Cancer Center, Berlin, Germany
59 Cancer Vaccine Section, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
60 Department of Oncology - Pathology, Cancer Center Karolinska, Karolinska Institute, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
61 Department of Molecular Immunology and Toxicology, Center of Surgical and Molecular Tumor pathology, National Institute of Oncology, Budapest, Hungary
62 INSERM, U848, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France
63 Research Center, University Hospital, Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montréal, Québec, Canada
64 Institut du Cancer de, Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
65 School of Medicine, Oncology Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
66 Department of Molecular Oncology, Foundation San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
67 Medical Oncology and Immunotherapy, Department of Oncology, University, Hospital of Siena, Istituto Toscano Tumori, Siena, Italy
68 Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
69 Department of Medical Oncology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
70 Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
71 Department of Immunology, CIMA, CUN and Medical School University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
72 Deptartment of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands
73 University of California-Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA, USA
74 Deeley Research Centre, BC Cancer Agency, Victoria, BC, Canada
75 Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pisa, Santa Chiara Hospital, Pisa, Italy
76 Oncology Institute, Loyola University Medical Center, Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Maywood, IL, USA
77 Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Program, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA
78 Ontario Cancer Institute/University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada
79 Cancer Research Institute, New York, NY, USA
80 Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, New York, NY, USA
81 Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine, Southampton, UK
82 Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Center, Saint Savas Cancer Hospital, Athens, Greece
83 Unit of Immuno-Biotherapy of Melanoma and Solid Tumors, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
84 Center for Medical Research, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
85 Istituto Superiore di Sanita', Rome, Italy
86 Chinese PLA Cancer Center, Nanjing, China
87 The John van Geest Cancer Research Centre, School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
88 Department of Medicine, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA
89 Immunoterapia e Terapia Cellulare Somatica, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (I.R.S.T.), Meldola (FC), Italy
90 Unit of Immunotherapy of Human Tumors, IRCCS Foundation, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy
91 Division of Clinical Onco-Immunology, Ludwig Center for Cancer Research of the University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland
92 Immunology and Biotechnology Unit, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Egypt
93 Dept. of Pathology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
94 Institute of Medical Immunology, Halle, Germany
95 MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
96 Department of Cancer Vaccine, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Mie, Japan
97 Department of Immuno-gene Therapy, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Mie, Japan
98 Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH, Tübingen, Germany
99 Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company, Cambridge, MA, USA
100 Center for Cancer Immune Therapy (CCIT), Department of Hematology, Herlev Hospital, Herlev, Denmark
101 Department of Surgery and Bioengineering, Advanced Clinical Research Center, Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
102 Institute of Immunology, School of Life Sciences, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, China
103 Institute of Immunopharmacology & Immunotherapy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, China
104 Experimental Cancer Immunology and Therapy, Department of Clinical Oncology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
105 Euraccine Consulting Group, Brussels, Belgium
106 Infectious Disease and Immunogenetics Section (IDIS), Department of Transfusion Medicine, Clinical Center, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
107 Center for Human Immunology (CHI), NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
108 Experimental Cancer Immunology and Therapy, Department of Clinical Oncology (K1-P), Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
109 Department of Surgery, Klinikum Grosshadern, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
110 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, Milwaukee, WI, USA
111 Institute of Immunology, School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
112 Institut Gustave Roussy, Center of Clinical Investigations CICBT507, Villejuif, France
113 Department Haematology and Oncology Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria
114 University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA
115 Discovery Medicine-Oncology, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
116 Tumor Vaccine Group, Center for Translational Medicine in Women's Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Journal of Translational Medicine 2011, 9:214 doi:10.1186/1479-5876-9-214
Published: 14 December 2011Abstract
Scientific discoveries that provide strong evidence of antitumor effects in preclinical models often encounter significant delays before being tested in patients with cancer. While some of these delays have a scientific basis, others do not. We need to do better. Innovative strategies need to move into early stage clinical trials as quickly as it is safe, and if successful, these therapies should efficiently obtain regulatory approval and widespread clinical application. In late 2009 and 2010 the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), convened an "Immunotherapy Summit" with representatives from immunotherapy organizations representing Europe, Japan, China and North America to discuss collaborations to improve development and delivery of cancer immunotherapy. One of the concepts raised by SITC and defined as critical by all parties was the need to identify hurdles that impede effective translation of cancer immunotherapy. With consensus on these hurdles, international working groups could be developed to make recommendations vetted by the participating organizations. These recommendations could then be considered by regulatory bodies, governmental and private funding agencies, pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions to facilitate changes necessary to accelerate clinical translation of novel immune-based cancer therapies. The critical hurdles identified by representatives of the collaborating organizations, now organized as the World Immunotherapy Council, are presented and discussed in this report. Some of the identified hurdles impede all investigators; others hinder investigators only in certain regions or institutions or are more relevant to specific types of immunotherapy or first-in-humans studies. Each of these hurdles can significantly delay clinical translation of promising advances in immunotherapy yet if overcome, have the potential to improve outcomes of patients with cancer.
