SYNOPSIS

The Joe Doupe Young Investigator award is given to a health scientist that demonstrates excellence in research training and has accomplished a significant and innovative study in the initial stages of their independent academic appointment.

Immune checkpoint blockers (ICB) have revolutionized the treatment of various cancers in both early and advanced stages. However current available biomarkers are neither sensitive nor specific at predicting outcome, and resistance to ICB is inevitable for most patients. Therefore, there is a world-wide unmet medical need for breakthrough concepts to predict outcome to ICB and to develop strategies to enhance long-term outcomes. Robust evidence has pointed to the various mechanisms by which intestinal bacteria act on distal tumors, and metagenomics profiling of patient stool prior to ICB revealed that baseline microbiome composition is associated with ICB clinical outcome and immune related toxicities. Recently positive clinical trials combining fecal microbiota transplantation with ICB opened novel therapeutic avenues in oncology.

At the end of this session, participants will:

1. Discover the various mechanisms by which intestinal bacteria act on cancer immunotherapy response;
2. Review the literature on the negative impact of antibiotics;
3. Understand the various strategies to shift the microbiome composition.