CCF Conference, 5 & 6 February, Salt Lake City, Utah
As part of Cholangiocarcinoma Awareness Month, AMMF’s Helen Morement, together with Dr John Bridgewater and Professor Juan Valle from the UK, joined with scientists and clinicians from across the US at The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation‘s conference in Salt Lake City, to hear of the progress being made on both sides of the Atlantic towards our shared goal – a cure for cholangiocarcinoma.
Amongst the eminent presenters, the UK’s Dr Bridgewater spoke about the ABC series of clinical trials – from ABC-2, which resulted in the now world standard Gemcitabine/Cisplatin combination for inoperable chemotherapy, up to the latest trials now in planning which will be seeking to find targeted therapies.
To see Dr Bridgewater’s presentation, click here
Good to see AMMF’s contribution to work on the UK clinical trials for cholangiocarcinoma acknowledged in Dr Bridgewater’s presentation, too!
Amongst all the impressive academic and scientific presentations, one incredibly moving personal story stood out – the presentation given by Melinda Bachini. Melinda shared her story of cholangiocarcinoma from the patient’s perspective, and whilst it is one which had a beginning common to many who have been diagnosed with CC, it has a unique ending – as Melinda has taken part in the ‘Adoptive Cell Therapy’ trial.
Melinda had an advanced cholangiocarcinoma which, despite undergoing chemotherapy, had spread to her liver and lungs. With few options left, she found Dr. Steven Rosenberg at the US National Cancer Institute, and was accepted on to his trial involving using a patient’s own immune system.
This immune cell therapy was a far from easy journey for Melinda, but has had positive results for her – and she is the only patient on the trial to have had such results …
To hear Melinda speak at the conference, click here:
There is more about immune cell therapy on AMMF’s website:
https://ammf.org.uk/…/immune-cell-therapy-the-answer-to…/
And there is a webinar on The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation site: http://cholangiocarcinoma.org/new-upcoming-webinar-using-p…/
This was a truly encouraging couple of days of learning about CC research projects from the leaders in the field, which also provided many invaluable networking opportunities.
All of us at AMMF now look forward to closer collaboration with our friends in the US as we work towards our shared mission.
Other presentations at the conference included the following:
Mitesh Borad, Mayo Clinic
Eric Collison, University of California San Francisco and
Andrew X. Zhu, Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
Increasing Clinical Trials in Cholangiocarcinoma
Michele Carbone, University of Hawaii
BAP1 Mutations-Spectrum and Biology in Cancer
James Ferrell, The Arbinger Institute
Keynote Speaker
Randi Isaacs, Novartis Institute Biomedical Research
FGFR Alterations in Cancer
Keith Lindor, Arizona State University
NASH and PSC
Funda Meric-Bernstam, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Tumor Profiling and Investigational Therapeutics
Ben Stanger, University of Pennsylvania
Liver Development and Plasticity
Laura Wood, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Somatic Mutation Profiling in Cholangiocarcinoma
Kate Yen, Agios Pharmaceutical
IDH1 Mutation in Cholangiocarcinoma
Lei Zheng, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Potential of Immunotherapy for Solid Tumors including Cancers of the Bile Duct
February 2015
