Professor Andrew Sewell is a distinguished Research Professor in the Division of Infection and Immunity at Cardiff University School of Medicine in the United Kingdom.

The research team at Cardiff, led by Professor Sewell, has discovered unconventional T-cells equipped with a new type of T-cell receptor (TCR) which recognizes and kills most human cancer types while ignoring healthy cells. The discovery holds out the tantalizing possibility of a universal approach to killing cancer. The Nature Immunology article on this TCR found it recognized and killed most human cancer types via the monomorphic MHC class I-related protein, MR1.

The hope is this new TCR may provide the scientific community with a different route to target and destroy a wide range of cancers in all patients, opposed to the widely known therapy, CAR-T, which is personalized to each patient and targets only a few types of cancers and has not been successful in solid tumors. Research has shown that TCR kills cancer cells in the lung, skin, blood, colon, breast, bone, prostate, ovarian, kidney, and cervix while ignoring healthy cells. This approach is now in promising early clinical trials with other cancers.

Dr. Sewell will open the Friday morning Immunotherapy session talks and discussions.  We’re looking forward to learning more about the progress of this treatment which could someday be available to kidney cancer patients.

Drew M. Pardoll, M.D., Ph.D., will open Thursday’s KCRS sessions with a “Fireside Chat.”

Dr. Pardoll is the inventor of numerous immunotherapy vaccines and has published over 300 articles related to cancer vaccines, gene therapies, and cancer prevention technologies.

His lab focuses on T-cell responses and approaches to modify these responses for targeted immunotherapy.  These novel therapies target neoantigens, which could revolutionize the treatment of cancer patients in the decades to come by fulfilling the promise of a personalized, individual treatment.

In this video, “A Future Immune to Cancer,” Dr. Pardoll discusses his work with immunology. He also speaks about the importance of advocating for and donating to research funding.

Suzanne Topalian, M.D. is Associate Director at the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Melanoma Program Director in the Kimmel Cancer Center.

In the laboratory and in the clinic, Dr. Topalian serves as a physician-scientist whose research interests focus on cancer immunology and immunotherapy. She has published over 100 original research articles and reviews in this field and is internationally recognized for this work. Dr. Topalian’s research continues to focus on immune checkpoints, such as PD-1 alone and in combinations.

Checkpoint research has broadly changed the options for cancer care in many cancers including kidney cancer, and for some patients, it is offering long-term responses.

We’re honored  to have Dr Topalian and her husband and collaborator Drew Pardoll discussing new directions in immunotherapy at Thursday’s “Fireside Chat” to open KCRS22.