Cancer Vaccines, Neoantigens & Biomarkers of Antitumor Immunity | Prof Schoenberger & Dr Butterfield

Discover the latest breakthroughs in personalized cancer immunotherapy, neoantigens, and antitumor immunity biomarkers! In this scientific seminar organized by Łukasiewicz – PORT and the Polish Society for Fundamental and Experimental Immunology, world-renowned immunologists Dr. Lisa H. Butterfield and Prof. Stephen P. Schoenberger share cutting-edge insights on dendritic cell vaccines, metabolic dysfunction, and neoantigen-specific T-cell responses. CHAPTERS / TIMELINE: 00:00 - Opening Remarks & Introduction to P4 Health Project 02:15 - Introduction of Dr. Lisa H. Butterfield 03:45 - Dr. Lisa H. Butterfield: Biomarkers of Cancer Vaccine Responses 05:30 - The Complexity of Biomarkers in the Tumor Microenvironment 09:10 - Hypothesis-Generating vs. Hypothesis-Driven Biomarkers 11:00 - Pancreatic Cancer Trial: Gem/Nab-Paclitaxel + CD40 Agonist + Anti-PD-1 15:30 - Dendritic Cell (DC) Vaccines & Epitope Spreading in Melanoma 21:40 - Quality Control, Potency & NF-κB Pathway Defects in Patient DCs 27:10 - Metabolic Profiling of DCs: OxPhos vs. Glycolytic Skewing 34:00 - Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Fucosylated AFP & Immunosuppressive Lipids 39:30 - Autoantibody Profiling (REAP & PhIP-seq) as Biomarkers 44:50 - Q&A Session with Dr. Lisa H. Butterfield 45:00 - Q&A: Checkpoint Inhibitor Timing & T-reg Dynamics 47:00 - Q&A: Targeting Cancer Stem Cells 48:10 - Q&A: Neutralizing Tumor-Derived AFP Lipids 50:00 - Q&A: Practical Metabolic Profiling in Vaccine Prep 51:00 - Q&A: Future Outlook - DC Vaccines vs. Neoantigen Peptides 52:00 - Introduction of Prof. Stephen P. Schoenberger 53:20 - Prof. Stephen P. Schoenberger: Natural T cell immunity to cancer neoantigens 56:40 - Adjuvant Vaccine Trials: Comparing Phase 2/3 Lessons 01:00:00 - Neoantigen Identification: In Silico Binding vs. Direct Biological Testing 01:02:30 - The Integrated Personal Vaccine (IPV) Platform 01:05:30 - Clinical Trial Results: Immune Editing & Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) 01:09:50 - High-Throughput TCR Discovery: AIM Assay & Repertoire Profiling 01:14:40 - MAD HYPE & TIRTL-seq: Scalable Alpha-Beta TCR Pairing 01:20:00 - Validating Neoantigen-Specific TCRs in Low-TMB Cancers 01:25:40 - Q&A Session with Prof. Stephen P. Schoenberger 01:26:00 - Q&A: TCR Specificity - Mutant vs. Wild-Type Recognition 01:27:10 - Q&A: Tumor Immune Escape & CD4+ T-Cell Roles 01:28:50 - Q&A: Selection of Adjuvants (Hiltonol / Poly-ICLC) 01:29:30 - Q&A: Dosing Safety & Vaccine Schedules 01:30:30 - Closing Remarks & Reception 📌 KEY SEMINAR HIGHLIGHTS: Pancreatic Cancer Immunotherapy: Dr. Butterfield outlines lessons from combining chemotherapy with CD40 agonists (APX005) and PD-1 blockade (Nivolumab). While CD39+ memory T cells predicted response to anti-PD-1, shed CD83 was a biomarker for CD40 licensing. Metabolic Impairment in Patient DCs: Patient-derived dendritic cells frequently display impaired NF-κB signaling (reduced P65 nuclear translocation, lower ICOS ligand expression) and a glycolytic skewing (increased lactate secretion, glucose depletion) that correlates with poorer clinical outcomes. Tumor-Derived AFP & Immunosuppressive Lipids: In hepatocellular carcinoma, fucosylated tumor AFP transports immunosuppressive PGE2-pathway lipids into DCs, suppressing oxidative phosphorylation and T-cell priming. The IPV Platform: Prof. Schoenberger presents an HLA-agnostic platform identifying naturally occurring, pre-existing neoantigen-reactive T cells from peripheral blood without relying solely on binding algorithms. Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) Sweet Spot: Personalized neoantigen peptide vaccines administered in the adjuvant setting demonstrate durable recurrence-free survival by editing out tumor clones. MAD HYPE & TIRTL-seq Algorithms: Scalable, high-throughput Bayesian framework for native alpha-beta TCR pairing from single cells, unlocking repertoire-wide immune monitoring and functional TCR discovery. 👨‍🔬 ABOUT THE SPEAKERS: Dr. Lisa H. Butterfield: Distinguished Immunologist, former Vice President of R&D at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, and the first female President of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). Prof. Stephen P. Schoenberger: Translational Immunologist at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology and Director of Translational Science at the San Diego Center for Precision Immunotherapy. 🏛️ ABOUT THE EVENT: Recorded on October 1, 2026, during the Open Seminar hosted by Łukasiewicz – PORT (Wrocław, Poland) in collaboration with the Polish Society for Fundamental and Experimental Immunology. Supported by the European Commission's P4Health project. 🔗 Event details: https://port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl/en/op... 🔗 Łukasiewicz – PORT website: https://port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl/en/ #CancerVaccines #Immunotherapy #Neoantigens #Biomarkers #Oncology #PrecisionMedicine #LukasiewiczPORT #P4Health #TCRProfiling