Presented by Jernej Godec, Ezana Demissie, and Vikram Juneja

The immune system has evolved to recognize foreign invaders into our bodies, such as bacteria and viruses. In a similar fashion, it is able to recognize when healthy cells transform into cancer cells, and attempts to clear them. When patients come to the clinic with a tumor, the immune system has failed at this job, often because the cancer cells figure out ways to avoid the immune response. Exciting new therapies are emerging that attempt to shift the balance back in favor of the immune system. In this talk, we will review basics of how the immune system works in general and in response to cancer, as well as a few of the most exciting therapies currently in the clinic.