Live RTICC Club- Prof. Yardena Samuels

Prof. Yardena Samuels
Moross Integrated Cancer Center, Weizmann Institute of Science

"Revisiting the neoantigen approach to cancer immunotherapy"

Immunotherapy has sparked new hope for oncology in recent years, due to its remarkable ability to induce long-term tumor regression of metastatic cancer. Accumulating evidence suggests that tumor regression observed with immunotherapy is driven by the targeted elimination of neoantigen-bearing tumor cells that are presented on their surface as part of major histocompatibility complexes. As neopeptides can be recognized as foreign by T cells, they represent attractive targets for immunotherapies such as cancer vaccines.

Despite the great achievements in the field, personalized immunotherapies are still limited to specific cancer types due to the difficulty to identify targetable antigens, especially in low mutation burden tumors, where the presentation of neopeptides derived from somatic mutations is rare. Our group investigates untapped pools of cancer peptides, such as ones derived from intracellular microbial antigens and aberrant protein synthesis. In our most recent study, we explore the contribution of defective translation machinery components in cancer cells to the generation of aberrant peptides. Our proof-of-concept study suggests that one impaired translation fidelity regulator can contribute to and enrich the pool of cancer-specific immunogenic antigens. Our envisioned long-term goal is to identify specific inhibitors for translation fidelity regulators and assess their utility as a novel immunotherapy modality that will elicit long-lasting anti-tumor control.

The LIVE RTICC CLUB is a monthly seminar series hosted at the Rappaport Cancer Research Center, designed to push the boundaries of cancer research. This dynamic event presents world-renowned international and national academic experts who present and discuss groundbreaking discoveries in cancer-related topics.
Each seminar features top-tier scientists who specialize in diverse areas such as oncology, genomics, immunotherapy, molecular biology, and more. Researchers, clinicians, and students alike have the opportunity to engage with cutting-edge insights and pioneering techniques aimed at advancing cancer research and ultimately improving patient outcomes.