AACR Special Conference in Cancer Research: Cancer Biology-informed Radioligand Therapy

The goal of this conference is to convene experts in cancer biology, immunotherapy, and radioligand therapy (RLT) to discuss approaches to treating cancer with radioligand therapies and explore synergies with other treatments. With significant effort and interest in radioligand therapy by academia, industry, and government, paradigm-changing studies have demonstrated that combining molecular imaging and RLT has the possibility to dramatically impact cancer treatment. However, the major limitation for the further development of this field is a lack of fundamental knowledge of the mechanism(s) of action of systemic therapeutic isotopes with tumors, the tumor microenvironment, and the immune system. This conference is needed to engage experts from these diverse areas to not only educate on the state-of-the-art in radiotheranostics, but also to leverage the knowledge of cancer biologists, clinical oncologists, and immunologists to understand how RLT approaches work and how to overcome their limitations to drive the development of next generation therapies. Advancing RLT requires multi-disciplinary effort, with critical input from experts in radiochemistry, instrumentation, nuclear physics, and radiation biology. An unmet need in the field is advanced understanding of systemic radiobiology and cancer immunology as linked to therapeutic isotopes to fill gaps in knowledge across these domains. This AACR conference will focus on bringing together experts in these areas to discuss: 1) novel mechanisms of action of how systemic beta- and alpha-emitting isotopes interact with tumors, TME and the whole body to affect cures; 2) how RLT engages the immune system to mediate therapeutic efficacy; 3) rational approaches to treating cancer with novel isotopes and repurposed radioligand therapies; and 4) novel combinations and synergies with targeted and cellular therapies as well as external beam radiation, leveraging the strengths of each. Understanding how RLT interacts with the TME and the immune system are key to advancing novel therapies to treat an array of cancers.