Immuno-oncology at ECIO 2024

May 21, 2024

As Prof. Philippe Pereira outlined in his Honorary Lecture,  Dr. Sidney Wallace already theorized in a 1976 paper published in Cancer that there could be a possibility of initiating an immune response with embolization.

Nearly half a century later, many hopeful possibilities that the pioneers of cancer treatment dreamed of are becoming a reality, and immuno-oncology demands a larger space in the wider conversation of cancer care with each passing year.

Immuno-oncology is one of the most innovative areas of cancer research – it seeks to use a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer by means of antibodies and antigens used to stimulate the immune system. Research into immuno-oncology has considerably increased in the last decade, even just within the last five years, and shows no signs of slowing.

IO could be combined with immunotherapy with the possible goals of increasing the responsiveness of tumours to immunotherapy, or to provide a means for delivering immuno-agents to tumours. The promising benefits and current challenges of combining these two fields were a hot topic at ECIO 2024 – and we are sure to see more on this in the future.

Understanding immuno-oncology 

While many individual lectures at ECIO 2024 focused on different aspects of immuno-oncology, the first day included a dedicated session called “Immuno-oncology: on the delicate interaction of local treatment and systemic immunologic effects” which served as a perfect primer for attendees wishing to deepen their knowledge of the field.

T. Greten opened with a lecture attempting admirably to explain the whole immune system within 12 minutes. He gave an overview of the mechanisms and functioning of the immune system in response to cancer, as well as the broad strokes of what is currently known about therapeutic approaches to cancer treatment and what functions of the immune system can be targeted in the future.

Further talks in the session included EBIR-recommended lectures on immuno-active subgroups, and on response assessment, psuedoprogression, and hyperprogression.

B. Wood spoke on, as he put it, “all things oligo” – oligoprogression and oligoresistance. He gave important information on immunologic mechanisms of progression with immunotherapies, as well as the clinical definitions of oligoprogression and -resistance. He also included an overview on the known and established local treatment standards and their outcomes.

The session concluded with talks on the local delivery of immunotherapeutics and on the antigen-releasing and clinical effects of local ablation.

For viewers really wishing for a basic understanding of the intersection of immunotherapy in cancer treatment, A. Ruiz Casado gave a talk called “Chemotherapy and immunotherapy” during the IO Foundation course, and J. Coves spoke on the essentials of chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

The most popular immuno-oncology focused lecture during the meeting was T. Greten’s talk, “Targeted treatments, immunotherapy, and adjuvant therapy”,  from the session on what IRs need to know about intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, which included the place and results of immunotherapy in ICC as well as the results of adjuvant treatments.

AstraZeneca’s satellite symposium also debuted pioneering ideas on the topic of immunotherapy-based regiments in HCC.

The above-mentioned lectures as well as all content from ECIO 2024 continue to be available to watch on demand via the CIRSE Library!