AACR Past President David A. Tuveson, MD, PhD, FAACR, organized a symposium at the Annual Meeting that examined potential mechanisms underlying the relationship between stress and cancer, and how premature tissue aging may participate in an intrinsic and/or extrinsic fashion.

Gregory H. Reaman, MD, co-chaired and delivered opening remarks in a session that featured experts in pediatric brain tumors, solid malignancies, and leukemia, who reviewed existing evidence on the contribution of molecular profiling to the clinical care of pediatric cancer patients.

The 11 sessions in the Regulatory Science and Policy Track examined a wide range of regulatory science topics, including issues surrounding methods to determine appropriate dosing for oncology drugs, new approaches to reduce cancer disparities, and ways to use real-world data for regulatory approval, among many other important topics and issues.

Susan M. Kaech, PhD, chaired an Annual Meeting symposium that explored the intersection of cancer metabolism and immunometabolism. Researchers are gaining a better understanding about the impact of the tumor microenvironment on nutrient availability and the metabolic states of tumor cells and immune cells.

Roel Verhaak, PhD, chaired an Annual Meeting session that explored the fundamental concepts and cutting-edge developments in the understanding of extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) amplifications in cancer. The presence of ecDNA is associated with poor patient survival.

The AACR Annual Meeting 2022 program featured 13 forums on topics ranging from trust in science to genome-wide association studies, resistance to immune checkpoint blockade, breaking down silos in clinical trials, and putting precision oncology into clinical practice for pediatric cancer patients. Keep reading for a recap of four of those forums.

NCI Acting Director Douglas R. Lowy, MD, FAACR, chaired an Annual Meeting symposium that provided an update on clinical vaccine research efforts designed to prevent HPV, pancreatic cancer, and Lynch syndrome.

Beth McCormick, PhD, and two other investigators discussed the complex interplay between microorganisms and the tumor microenvironment and reviewed ongoing research using microbes to promote treatment response during an Annual Meeting symposium.

Craig M. Crews, PhD, was honored for his groundbreaking research that spearheaded new and revolutionary therapeutic approaches, including the development of novel proteasome inhibitors and proteolysis targeting chimera technology.

Neoantigens have emerged as prime targets for cancer immunotherapy in the past decade and researchers continue to explore approaches to improve antigen selection and immunogenicity for vaccine development. Ugur Sahin, MD, and Lélia Delamarre, PhD (left to right), discussed the latest advances at the Annual Meeting.