The last 4–5 years have ushered ina new era in acute leukemia therapy, with the advent and approval of multiple targeted therapies. Additionally, an improved understanding of the immune system in patients with hematologic malignancies has resulted in major progress in the development of immune therapies for the treatment, including monoclonal antibodies with or without conjugated toxins (bacterial or chemical), bispecific T-cell engagers and DART antibodies, immune-checkpoint-based therapies, and CAR-T cell approaches.
At the same time, there is an increasing understanding of tumor biology, creating the rationale for new combinations of drugs and new therapy development.
The numerous ongoing trials evaluating these novel therapies, with well-designed correlative interrogations of the immune system in patients treated in such trials, will further enhance our understanding of immune therapies as single-agent and combination approaches for the treatment of acute leukemias.
In this scenario, our aim is to create an international team, integrating a big faculty composed by international experts, which will integrate with a group of young researchers with known experience in this disease (“SOHO ITALY Acute Leukemia cantera”), in order to share projects and preclinical and clinical new clinical trials, in different fields of these heterogeneous diseases.
The “cantera” (Under40) will be selected through projects’ submission and CV evaluation, which will be performed by the big faculty, and will be able to be integrated in next editions.