The focus of this morning is on haematological cancers, their relationship with healthy white blood cells, and how immunotherapies are being used to treat them.
Our presenter, Dr Elaine Vickers, will focus much of her attention on two groups of treatments: The first group are the antibody-based treatments that attach to the surface of cancer cells and thenattract and activate several types of white blood cells through various means. Elaine will describe “naked” antibodies like rituximab, but she’ll also explain why other antibody-based strategies, suchas drug-conjugated antibodies and bi-specific antibodies, are being used against some cancers.
The second group of treatments that Elaine will describe are CAR T cell therapies, in which some of the patients own T lymphocytes are harvested, modified, and then returned to their body. Elaine will explain the science behind CAR T cell therapies for people with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But she’ll also provide an update on those being developed for other blood cancers, including multiple myeloma.
Please note that the exact content of this course is still being confirmed, though the below should give you a good idea about what to expect from this session