Tumor Microenvironment

This book addresses the biological processes relevant to the immune phenotypes of cancer and their significance for immune responsiveness, based on the premise that malignant cells manipulate their surroundings through an evolutionary process that is controlled by interactions with innate immune sensors as well as the adaptive recognition of self/non-self. Checkpoint inhibitor therapy is now an accepted new form of cancer treatment. Other immuno-oncology approaches, such as adoptive cell therapy and metabolic inhibitors, have also shown promising results for specific indications. Immune resistance is common, however, limiting the efficacy of immunotherapy in many common cancer types. 

The reasons for such resistance are diverse and peculiar to the immune landscapes of individual cancers, and to the treatment modality used. Accordingly, approaches to circumvent resistance need to take into account context-specific genetic, biological and environmental factors that may affect the cancer immune cycle, and which can best be understood by studying the target tissue and correlated systemic immune markers. 

Understanding the major requirements for the evolutionary process governing human cancer growth in the immune-competent host will guide effective therapeutic choices that are tailored to the biology of individual cancers.

Peter P. Lee, M.D. is Billy and Audrey L. Wilder Endowed Professor in Cancer Immunotherapeutics, Chair of the Department of Immuno-Oncology, and Co-Leader of the Cancer Immunotherapeutics Program at the Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, CA, USA. Dr. Lee trained in clinical immunology at UCSF and hematology at Stanford University. Prior to joining City of Hope in 2011, he was a tenured faculty at Stanford. Dr. Lee has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and trained over 20 pre- and postdoctoral fellows. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and has been the recipient of various awards. Dr. Lee’s research focuses on understanding how the tumor microenvironment (TME) impacts host immune responses in cancer patients, with the goal of developing novel treatments to modulate the TME and restore/enhance immune function in these patients. He seeks to rationally integrate immunotherapies into combinations to achieve proper treatment sequencing and maximum clinical efficacy. 

Francesco Marincola, M.D. is currently Chief Scientific Officer at Refuge Biotechnologies, Menlo Park, California. He has previously served as a Distinguished Research Fellow at AbbVie Corporation in Redwood City, California; Chief Research Officer at Sidra Medical and Research Center in Doha, Qatar; and Tenured Investigator at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Marincola’s research interest lies in translational medicine and focuses on the development of strategies for the dynamic study of patients’ response to immunotherapy. His approach has resulted in seminal observations regarding the mechanisms leading to rejection of tumors, allograft rejection, graft-versus-host disease, and autoimmunity. In 2003, Dr. Marincola founded the Journal of Translational Medicine, of which he is currently the Editor-in-Chief. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Translational Medicine Communications and Clinical and Translational Medicine. He is a past president of both the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) and the International Society for Translational Medicine. He has edited several biomedical books and is also an award-winning fiction writer.