Abstract

While the importance of adoptive and innate immunity has been clear in the pathogenesis of human autoimmune disease resulting in a multitude of immune-based therapeutic approaches, the realization is now apparent that understanding immune evasion by cancer is central in developing curative treatments. This meeting will explore and contrast the underlying immune mechanisms resulting in autoimmunity and tumor evasion. The meeting is innovative in bringing together basic immunologists investigating mechanisms of tolerance with scientists exploring immune mechanisms of autoimmunity and cancer in both patients and experimental models. Thus, this Keystone Symposia meeting will cover the pathways in immunity and tolerance that lead to loss of immunological control, dysregulated immune responses and chronic inflammatory disease or tumor evasion. Presentations will include consideration of preclinical and clinical aspects of a diverse number of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and cancer. Conference participants engaged in preclinical, translational and clinical research will hopefully engage in continuing conversations and collaborations which, over the long-term, will provide greater insights into the human immune response and allow us to reassess and further explore pathways that are driving autoimmune disease yet in opposition, lead to tumor evasion. Understanding checkpoints in autoimmunity and immune cell tolerance is important for delivering therapies to patients with autoimmune disease and cancer, and this meeting will provide a platform for the cross-pollination of clinical experience and experimental research. Attendees will have learned about the impact of targeted immune-based therapeutics on clinical outcome and, consequently, be able to widen their research scope accordingly.