The Cancer Research Institute 2013 Annual Symposium: Dynamics of host-tumor interaction

The 21st annual Cancer Research Institute (CRI) cancer immunotherapy symposium, entitled "Dynamics of Host-Tumor Interaction," was held in New York City from September 30 through October 2, 2013. The symposium comprised 27 presentations, organized into five sessions and exploring such topics as the role of chronic inflammation in creating a protumorigenic microenvironment, the interactions between the cancer stroma and immune cells in trafficking and cancer metastasis, the role of the host microbiota in immune responses to cancer, and the interactions between cancer cells and immunoregulatory elements, including regulatory T cells and T-cell checkpoint proteins. The conference began with a keynote address by Michael Karin, recipient of the 2013 Coley Award, who discussed the role of inflammation as a Janus-faced process in the body's fight against cancer-both tumor destroying and tumor promoting. The conference concluded with a session on therapeutics and translational research aimed at improving existing cancer immunotherapies.