Pre-Conference Workshops
Tuesday, November 28
8:00 am Registration & Coffee Networking
9am- 12amWorkshop A
Matching the Modality to the Disease: What Cell Therapy Type is Best for Which Indication?
Synopsis
As B cells are crucial to the pathogenesis of many autoimmune diseases, CD19 makes an attractive target because its expression is limited to those of a B-cell lineage. Additionally, the field has commonly developed therapies to treat indications such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 diabetes. But, what’s next for the field? What new targets and indications are on the horizon?
Through a variety of presentations and group discussions, this workshop will:
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of CAR-T and Tregs: how do we leverage this knowledge to effectively treat a variety of indications?
- Explore recent advances in antigen discovery: what antigens can we target beyond CD19?
- Discuss the next big autoimmune indication: with initial success displayed in lupus, what’s next on the horizon?
12:00 pm Lunch Break & Networking
1pm – 4pmWorkshop B
Developing Safe & Efficacious Cellular Therapies For Autoimmune Disease: How Do We Ensure An Acceptable Risk-Benefit Profile?
Synopsis
CAR-T and other cellular therapies have had huge success in the treatment of hematological malignancies; however, adverse events (AEs) including cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity
syndrome (ICANS) have been observed. For patients with cancer, where mortality is a real concern, these AEs are often considered an acceptable risk in the search for a cure. On the other hand, patients with autoimmune diseases often aren’t terminally ill, so are these AEs an acceptable risk to take? How do we show the benefit?
Through a variety of presentations and group discussions, this workshop will:
- Explore how to demonstrate a good risk-benefit profile in different cell-based therapies (ex vivo CAR-T, in vivo CAR-T, Treg)
- Identify how we can engineer the cells to better prevent CRS, ICANS, and other AEs, as well as ensure humoral immunity is preserved
- Discuss different clinical strategies to ensure patient safety