The Resistant Tumor Microenvironment

The tumor is an evolving tissue comprised of cancer cells interacting with a complex cellular and non-cellular tumor microenvironment (TME), which manifests as a systemic disease. The TME, which is spatially and functionally heterogeneous, reflects the tumor cell’s genotype and the host age and immune and metabolic states. The TME also exhibits tissue-specific features and has distinct primary and metastatic tissue phenotypes. These diverse TME features can either drive or restrain tumor progression and metastasis, and will modulate tumor treatment response. Our understanding of how this complex, evolving TME influences malignancy has expanded to include induction of chronic adaptive changes in the tumor and the host that manifest at the organelle, cellular, organ, and systemic level. This meeting will present recent work describing specific cellular and non-cellular features of the primary and metastatic tissue-specific TME, and will highlight their impact on tumor evolution, aggression and treatment response. The conference co-organizers have developed a program that will bring together experts from diverse fields including academia, research institutions and industry to explore the latest findings in the TME. The conference will provide an up-to-date overview of the recent advances in basic, translational and clinical TME research. The meeting will emphasize new areas of TME investigation, particularly as it relates to tumor adaptation, progression and metastasis, and treatment resistance. Effort will be exerted to ensure that junior investigators, especially from underrepresented groups, are provided with time to present their work, receive feedback and interact with senior investigators.