Precision Cancer Medicine by Functional Biomarkers
Forum Description
With the ever-growing number of targeted cancer therapies comes the growing need for predictive biomarkers to assign these therapies to the patients who will most benefit from them. This is the task of precision medicine. While the precision medicine in cancer is often equated with cancer genomics, there are important and increasingly appreciated limits on how well genomic information can serve as a precision medicine tool in cancer. An emerging alternative strategy that is very important to my laboratory and others is to put drugs of interest into contact with the patients’ actual tumor cells and measure the effect. Exactly what is measured and how it is measured differs depending on the approach.
Forum Summary
It would be ideal if we knew that the drug treatment used for an individual’s cancer would work and kill the malignant cells. To achieve this, we need markers that are associated with a disease that also give you information as to how a tumor responds to therapy. To date, the overwhelming majority of effort has focused upon identifying genetic markers that are thought to help in predicting the outcome. However, most patients’ tumors lack these types of genetic markers so that an effective therapy can be assigned. An alternative method is to apply drugs directly to a biopsy of the patient’s cancer cells and make relevant measurements that can predict response to therapy. This meeting gathered 18 individuals who shared an interest in making such technologies work. Several Forbeck Foundation SAB members also attended as observers.
The meeting opened with dinner at the Endicott House on the evening of the 18th with a lively informal scientific discussion. The following day was packed with presentations. The first two sessions focused on comparing the different technologies that can be used to try and predict the response of an individual’s cancer cells to different drugs. The tumors under consideration included both solid tumors and leukemia. A detailed discussion of the different approaches to culturing patient’s cells in the presence of different types of drugs ensued. This was followed by a debate about the best way to readout how the tumor cells respond to drugs.
In addition to technical discussions, further sessions revolved around the barriers to uptake to these strategies. Identified barriers included matching the best culture conditions to tumor type, the problems of obtaining tumor tissue for this type of analysis, and regulatory concerns. Moreover, this type of therapeutic optimization is vastly different to how conventional drugs are tested and therefore there is a real need to identify methods to validate these approaches to allow them to be adopted for clinical trials and ultimately introduced into practice.
Several points were agreed upon following the meeting. The group will author a white paper defining functional precision cancer medicine, and explaining its use in meeting the unmet need for predicting an individual’s response to drug therapy. It was proposed to form groups to explain our strategies to the FDA and to engage them as partners. In addition, we will meet with thought leaders within the NCI, to present a vision of precision medicine that goes beyond just a genomic analysis. This latter will be important for gaining the resources needed. Several of the attendees volunteered to travel to Washington /Bethesda in person for these meetings. Finally, there was general agreement that a society should be formed, for purposes of awareness, sharing of ideas, and organizing subsequent meetings of a larger community. Attendees greatly enjoyed an interactive and exciting meeting which will hopefully catalyze much useful improvement in the state of cancer precision medicine.
Venue & Travel Information
Travel Policy
Please familiarize yourself with our policies and procedures for travel. We truly appreciate you taking the time to participate in this forum. As you make your plans, please remember that we are a nonprofit organization dependent on donations and volunteers. We do NOT pay for upgrades, change fees, incurred costs resulting from a flight change, transportation to or from your local (home side) airport, meals or other incidentals.
- Travel Confirmation will be sent out within 1 week of the forum. This will include a hotel confirmation number, if there is one, and airport transfer details. We have to wait until we receive almost everyone’s travel to book airport transfer. Due to frequent airline changes, we wait until the week of the forum to send this out.
- Airport transfer is provided by Foundation staff, volunteers or arranged shuttle at specific times. If you opt to utilize Foundation airport transportation on your travel form, please be patient in receiving this information. We will send it to the week of the forum.
- Speaker agenda is not sent out prior to the forum. It will be provided upon arrival in the forum packet. We do not tell people when they are speaking because we expect everyone to attend all sessions. Sessions are all day Friday and Saturday.
- REMINDER: We do not reimburse for home side airport transfer or incidentals while traveling. We will not honor miscellaneous receipts sent for these expenses.
- Spouses are welcome to come with you at their own cost but are not allowed to attend the forum. Please no children.
What the Foundation Pays
Accommodations and meals are provided by the foundation during the forum. Airfare will be covered only if booked in accordance with our policy and only up to the amount in which you were approved for. The Foundation will also cover airport transportation on the forum side at the designated shuttle times. You can select not to utilize Foundation arranged transportation at your own expense when completing the travel form. Once your travel form is received your accommodations and airport transfer will be confirmed. Please let us know of any food allergies or other information we should be aware of on the travel forms.
- Note we do not cover upgrades, changes, late bookings, etc.
- Flights must be booked at least 30 days prior to the forum to confirm your accommodations and airport transfer.
- As a nonprofit we utilize volunteers and other methods to maximize our efforts (or our donor support) when making accommodations and arranging ground transportation. Ground transportation will be provided upon your arrival either by a foundation volunteer or arranged shuttle. You will be provided airport transportation information the week of the forum. We do not reimburse for home side airport transfer or incidentals while traveling.
Abstracts
Abstracts are due 30 days prior to the start of the meeting to allow enough time to prepare the meeting book.
The abstracts should be only one or two paragraphs outlining the theme of your presentation and should reflect the objective and spirit of the meeting (see above). Abstracts will be circulated about one week before the meeting. The meeting organizer will start requesting them a month before the meeting.
Forum Structure
The structure of the forum has been developed over years of experience.
- Participants have approximately 45 minutes, depending on the number of participants, for their presentation and discussion. The presentation is meant as a conversation start and should last about twenty minutes briefly covering background information and areas that are new or need further input. This should be structured in such a way as to lead to a lively discussion. Participants are encouraged to interrupt to ask questions or start discussions.
- A MAXIMUM of 5 slide equivalents per presentation is allowed (Power point slides should not contain more than one graph or gel per slide and no more than 5 bullet points to stress the points being made by the presenter.) We appreciate cooperation with the spirit of this guideline. Handouts are welcome but should be distributed before sessions.
- Everyone is expected to actively participate in every session and discussions.
- The time spent at the forum is relatively short, so please be familiar with papers received prior to arrival.
- It is very important that you commit to all sessions of the 2 days of the forum.
Forbeck Scholars Participation
Scholars are selected for each Forbeck Forum. These are outstanding junior clinical or post-doctoral fellows selected based on the quality and relevance of science.
- Scholars present for 30-45 minutes, depending on the number of participants
- The same presentation rules apply for scholars
- After the Forum you are selected to attend, you will attend three years of Scholar Retreats held in Lake Geneva, WI. If you attend a Fall Forum, you will attend the Spring Retreat. If you attend a Spring Forum you will attend a Fall Retreat.
- Scholars are selected by the Foundation Scientific Advisory Board and peer reviewers selected from past Forbeck Scholars.
General Program
The outline below illustrates a typical program schedule. You will receive a complete schedule, including speaking times, the Thursday the forum starts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are some of our most Frequently Asked Questions. If you have something new to ask, please feel free to contact us.
- Travel Confirmation will be sent out within 1 week of the forum. This will include a hotel confirmation number, if there is one, and airport transfer details. We have to wait until we receive almost everyone’s travel to book airport transfer. Due to frequent airline changes, we wait until the week of the meeting to send this out.
- Airport transfer is provided by Foundation staff, volunteers or arranged shuttle at specific times. If you opt to utilize Foundation airport transportation on your travel form, please be patient in receiving this information. We will send it to the week of the forum.
- Speaker agenda is not sent out prior to the meeting. It will be provided upon arrival in the meeting packet. We do not tell people when they are speaking because we expect everyone to attend all sessions. Sessions are all day.
- Frequently airport transfer is provided by volunteers. Please be patient on receiving this information. Airport transfer will be sent out prior to arrival.
- REMINDER: We do not reimburse for home side airport transfer or incidentals while traveling. We will not honor miscellaneous receipts sent for these expenses.