Seminar Poster

Speaker:
Dr Benjamin Fairfax
Principal Investigator/Group Leader
MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine,
University of Oxford, UK

About the Speaker:

Dr Benjamin Fairfax is a Consultant in Medical Oncology trained in London and Oxford.  In 1999, he intercalated a PhD in Steve Moss’ former laboratory at the MRC-LMCB, UCL. Upon completion of his clinical training in Oxford, he worked within Julian Knight’s group at the WTCHG where he did research during his Academic Foundation Programme and subsequently held a postdoctoral position supported by a Wellcome MB-PhD postdoctoral fellowship.

Abstract:
Checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy has revolutionised the management of multiple cancers, no more so than metastatic melanoma. However, there is a large degree of inter-individual variation in response to these treatments in terms of clinical outcomes and toxicity. Whilst some of this will be due to cancer specific factors, the immune state of the individual is likely of high importance.

Dr Benjamin Faifax will present work which his team has performed to explore the transcriptomic response in CD8+ lymphocytes as well as other cell subsets to either single-agent (anti-PD1) or combination (anti-CTLA-4/anti-PD1) checkpoint inhibitor treatment across a large cohort of melanoma patients. The team identifies many hundreds of transcripts regulated by these treatments which form discrete modules of related genes. The team demonstrate that they are able to detect divergence between these modules between patients who respond and progress post six months of treatment as early as day 21 post-treatment. They proceed to show correlates of these effects in the peripheral CD8+ T-cell receptor repertoire which they further explore. Finally, using single-cell sequencing, the team dissects differential gene expression patterns across responding T-cell clones.

This work demonstrates that clinically relevant insights into response to checkpoint inhibitor therapy are realisable using peripherally obtained samples and this may be of generalisable importance across cancer subtypes.

CME Accreditation:

* One CME point for attendance pending for approval by the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK).

All are welcome.
For enquiries, please contact Miss Tracy Tang at 3763 6088.