Immunology highlights from ASH 2014

ASH 2014

Published: 7 Dec 2014

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Dr Catherine Bollard - George Washington University, Washington, USA

Dr Bollard discusses key abstracts showcased at ASH 2014 with ecancertv. Here, she provides a quick roundup of the key immunology research discussed, looking towards the future of the haemotology treatment landscape.

Dr Bollard is also a member of the Division of the Blood and Marrow Transplantation and senior scientist at the Children National Health System's Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at Children’s Research Institute. She is the Principal Investigator and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation.

ASH 2014

Immunology highlights from ASH 2014

Dr Catherine Bollard - Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, USA

So CAR T-cell therapy, you’ve got the bi-specific antibody also in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and then the PD1 blockade. Collectively, what kind of contribution are these making to the therapeutic armamentarium?

For cancer it is going to change how we think about cancer therapy. Traditionally we’ve treated cancer therapy with chemotherapy, radiation and with the caveats being that we get very unacceptable long-term side effects, bystander organ toxicity. What we’re now doing with this whole thinking about how to change how we attack cancer is we are now investing in the patient’s own immune system to really be able to kill the cancer cells without bystander organ toxicity and to avoid ultimately maybe chemo and/or radiation in the future. That would be something that would be extremely exciting for the treatment of cancer.

Heloise Cheruvalath - Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA