Hosted by the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), and the Italian Cancer Society (SIC), the EACR-AACR-SIC Special Conference 2017 will build on the success of the previous conference, which was widely praised for the quality of its program and inspirational contributions.

The conference format is designed to bring together basic, translational, and clinical researchers, as well as researchers working on the development of new targeted therapeutics. Leading experts will present the latest achievements of multidisciplinary research dealing with drug action and resistance and highlight challenges that require a concerted multidisciplinary effort. The program will comprise Keynote Lectures, Plenary Symposia, Scientific Symposia, Meet-the-Expert sessions, and Oral and Poster presentations with ample time for discussion.

It will provide up-to-date information on both targeted and immunological approaches to interfere with cancer, for which major progress has been made in recent years. Along with these encouraging developments, the program will focus on the challenges that lie ahead of us—to increase our fundamental understanding of tumour heterogeneity and drug resistance mechanisms, to better stratify patients for therapy, and to increase the numbers of patients with durable clinical responses. Furthermore, ample attention will be given to the role of the microbiome and other microenvironmental factors influencing therapy response. Finally, technical advances like single-cell sequencing and relevant in vivo/ex vivo models will be covered. The program will offer high value through Plenary and Poster sessions, providing an excellent forum to share new data and network with colleagues.