: How has research in cancer immunotherapy changed in the past decade and how have the technological developments contributed to this evolution?
SB: In the past decade the two headline changes have been the development of therapeutic antibodies to the immune checkpoint inhibitors (following, of course, the explosion of research) to allow our own immune system to combat tumors, and CAR-T and allied T-cell and allied (NK, etc) therapies.
: What are some of the biggest hurdles/challenges facing researchers in this field and do you think they are being adequately addressed?
SB: For checkpoint inhibitor therapy, more research has to be done on why only ~30% of patients have tumors that respond in areas for which the PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors have licensed indications and how to turn cold tumors hot, so they can be susceptible to similar approaches. Also, as is the case in many therapies beyond immunotherapies, how to overcome resistance. Biomarker development as well as clinical trials involving combination therapies are needed.
: Are there technological solutions that are being currently being developed that you are excited about?
SB: Yes! In the cell therapy area, creation of third generation and beyond CAR-Ts, and investigating autologous T-Cell therapies. Also, development of bispecific (BiTE) and now trispecific (TrIKE) antibodies that can engage multiple targets on multiple cell types.
: What are some of the new trends that you are seeing in this field? Will existing technology keep up with those trends?
SB: Besides what was just mentioned for T-Cell therapies and bi-tri-specific antibodies, for checkpoint inhibitors, looking beyond PD-1/PD-L1 to TIM-3/LAG-3/GITR and also to adenosine pathways. For these and possibly the bi/tri-specific antibodies, biomarker development as well as therapeutic antibody development will be critical. For the cell therapies, biomarkers may eventually be needed to select which patient populations will most benefit and also which patients may most likely relapse. Also, demonstrating clinical efficacy in solid tumors, especially those poorly served by current therapy modalities such as brain cancers, would be great.
: Are there gaps in current technology offerings for cancer immunotherapy? How do they relate to lack of instrumentation, technical know-how, data deluge, translational issues?
SB: I think for preclinical investigations, selecting the best model systems, as they require tumor-immune system interaction, is crucial. For cell therapies, ensuring scalability and safety is critical for wider-scale adoption. Data analysis of the antigen repertoire for truly personalized medicine will also be something to optimize in the future.
: Are there gaps in current technology offerings for cancer immunotherapy? How do they relate to lack of instrumentation, technical know-how, data deluge, translational issues?
SB: I think for preclinical investigations, selecting the best model systems, as they require tumor-immune system interaction, is crucial. For cell therapies, ensuring scalability and safety is critical for wider-scale adoption. Data analysis of the antigen repertoire for truly personalized medicine will also be something to optimize in the future.
: As a technology/service provider how are you impacting the progress in this field? What can you do more/better and what will help to make this happen?
SB: At Abcam, we are working with basic, translational, and clinical researchers, both in academia and biotech/pharma, to ensure that they have the best possible tools. This can be for discovery, translational research, validation, all the way to biomarker development and support for therapy.
: If you could change one thing to drive progress in this field what would that be?
SB: If we can support the optimization of diagnostics to therapy, that would be a great success.