Report on the sixth annual meeting of the Association for Immunotherapy of Cancer (CIMT), May 15 and 16, 2008 in Mainz, Germany

Excerpt

After one visit to Würzburg in 2007 the sixth annual meeting of the Association for Immunotherapy of Cancer (CIMT) was organized again in Mainz on May 15 and 16, 2008. More than 350 participants attended the scientific sessions with program topics ranging from fundamental research on antigen processing and mechanisms of breaking tolerance to more translational studies on adoptive T-cell transfer, vaccination and the use of adjuvants or immunomodulating agents. In addition, an extra session was organized which focused on the monitoring of immunotherapy-induced immune responses. Selected posters were discussed in short presentations during three parallel sessions. This year’s meeting provided the attendees with a comprehensive overview of the most prominent work in the field. It proved to be a very interesting and stimulating meeting, with plenty of opportunity to “meet the expert”. In contrast to prior CIMT meetings, in which the great majority of participants came from Germany, this year’s meeting attracted a much more international audience, reflecting the increasing interest in this meeting platform in- and out-side of Europe. …