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The 2017 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., April 1-5, is expected to draw more than 20,000 scientists, clinicians, advocates, and others, including UNC Lineberger faculty, to discuss advances in the field of cancer science.

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UNC Lineberger researchers and physicians will present new research and share expertise on topics ranging from the obesity-cancer linked to cancers caused by viruses at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, April 1-5.

The meeting is expected to draw more than 20,000 scientists, clinicians, advocates, and others to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C. to discuss advances in the field of cancer science.

Presentations and talks by UNC Lineberger faculty include:

Saturday, April 1

Educational Session – 8-10 a.m. – Chemistry to the Clinic: Part 1: Chemical Probes in Identifying and Validating Drug Targets. 9:30 a.m. “Chemical probes of chromatin regulation: Case histories,” Stephen Frye.

Educational Session – 1 p.m. – Chromatin Regulation in Pediatric Cancer. 2 p.m. “De-BAF-ling the role of SWI/SNF complex mutations in pediatric cancer development,” Bernard E. Weissman.

Sunday, April 2

Meet-the-Expert Session – 7-8 a.m. – “The Dynamic Interplay between Cancer and Aging,” Ned Sharpless.

Major Symposium –1-2:45 p.m. – Obesity, Inflammation, and the Adipose Microenvironment in Cancer, chaired by Liza Makowski. 1:05-1:30 p.m. She’s also presenting at 1:05 p.m. as part of the symposium: “Obesity and metabolic reprogramming of macrophages in triple-negative breast cancer.”

Major Symposium – 1-2:45 p.m. – Lung Cancer Disparities and Behavioral Strategies for Equity. “Landscape of disparities in lung cancer care,” M. Patricia Rivera.

Poster Session – 1-5 p.m. – Diet and Cancer.

“The polyphenolic plant lignan secoisolariciresinol diglycoside reduces mammary tumor growth, possibly via inhibition of local inflammatory signaling,” Claire G. Lineberger, Laura W. Bowers, Nikki A. Ford, Emily L. Rossi, Carol J. Fabian, Stephen D. Hursting.

“Nutrient stress via folic acid modulation causes systemic and cancer-specific metabolic reprogramming and differential effects on primary and metastatic mammary tumor growth in lean and obese mice,” Ciara H. O’Flanagan, Xuewen Chen,, Zahra Ashkavand, Sergey A. Krupenko, Stephen D. Hursting.

“Associations of polyunsaturated fat, bile acids, and gut microbiota on colorectal adenoma risk,” Tengteng Wang, Nicole M. Brown, Amber N. McCoy, Robert S. Sandler, Temitope O. Keku.

Poster Session – 1-5 p.m. – Metabolic Pathways in Cancer.

“Differential effects of folate depletion on metabolic reprogramming and oxidative stress in nonmetastatic and metastatic claudin-low breast cancer cells,” Xuewen Chen, Ciara O’Flanagan, Stephen D. Hursting.

Poster Session – 1-5 p.m. – Checkpoints I.

“Regulatory T cell recruitment limits the effectiveness of checkpoint inhibition for claudin-low breast cancer,” Sarah C. Vick, Nicholas A. Taylor, Michael D. Iglesia, W. June Brickey, Lisa A. Carey, Bentley R. Midkiff, Karen P. McKinnon, Shannon Reisdorf, Joel S. Parker, Charles M. Perou, Benjamin G. Vincent, Jonathan S. Serody.

Poster Session – 1-5 p.m. – Genomic Screening for Cancer Dependencies and Drug Response.

“Genetic variation in platinum-sensitive and platinum-resistant high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer,” Tara Castellano, Leslie H. Clark, Naim Rashid, Victoria Bae-Jump.

Minisymposium – 3-5 p.m. – Novel Therapeutic Targets, Molecules, and Approaches for the Treatment of Cancer.Spatial-temporal delivery of OX40 agonist and PD-1 inhibitor using nanoparticles improves therapeutic efficacy of cancer immunotherapy,” Yu Mi, Christof C. Smith, Feifei Yang, Jonathan Serody, Benjamin Vincent, Andrew Z. Wang.

Monday, April 3

Poster Session – 8 a.m.-noon – Cell Culture and Animal Models of Cancer

“The role of leptin signaling in the promotion of obesity-associated tumorigenesis and cancer stem cell characteristics in a transgenic mouse model of basal-like breast cancer,” Subreen A. Khatib, Laura W. Bowers, Emily L. Rossi, Shannon B. McDonell, Claire G. Lineberger, Stephen D. Hursting.

Poster Session – 8 a.m.-noon – Liquid Biopsies 1: Circulating Tumor Cells

“Assessing circulating tumor cells with a nanotechnology-based capture system as a novel biomarker for treatment response and surveillance in patients with oligometastatic solid tumors,” Joseph M. Caster, Kyle Wang, Bhisham Chera, Andrew Z. Wang.

Presentation Session – 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. – Pancreatic Cancer Action Network-AACR Grantee Discussion and Poster Session – “Defining novel combination KRAS-targeted therapeutic strategies,” Channing J. Der.

Poster Session – 1-5 p.m. – Inflammation and Cancer.

“The protumorigenic, proinflammatory effects of obesity are reversed by weight loss via bariatric surgery, but not a low-fat diet,” Laura W. Bowers, Emily L. Rossi, Subreen A. Khatib, Steven Doerstling, Randy J. Seeley, Stephen D. Hursting.

“Target obesity-associated inflammation to decrease murine basal-like mammary tumor burden,” Emily L. Rossi, Subreen A. Khatib, Laura W. Bowers, Steven S. Doerstling, Stephen D. Hursting.

Poster Session – 1-5 p.m. – Signaling in Cancer Stem Cells.

“IKK-mediated signaling controls prostate tumor initiating cells,” Sara E. Conard, Aaron Ebbs, Albert S. Baldwin.

Poster Session – 1-5 p.m. – Tumor Microenvironment 4.

“Obesity-induced modifications of the mammary gland microenvironment promote TNBC progression even after weight loss,” Alyssa J. Cozzo, Ottavia Zattra, Alex J. Freemerman, Liza Makowski.

Tuesday, April 4

Poster Session – 8 a.m.-noon – Sequencing Analysis and Algorithms.

“Improved indel detection in RNA-seq data via assembly based re-alignment reveals Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor indels in Lung Adenocarcinoma,” Lisle E. Mose, D. Neil Hayes, Charles M. Perou, Joel S. Parker.

“Statistical considerations in tumor only variant calling,” Paul Little, D. Neil Hayes, Joel Parker, Jose Zevallos.

Poster Session – 8 a.m.-noon – Molecular Medicine.

“Identification of genetic drivers in HER2enriched/HER2negative breast cancer,” Susana Garcia Recio, Cheng Fan, Marni Siegel, Joel S. Parker, Gina N. Duronio, Charles M. Perou.

Poster Session – 8 a.m.-noon – Inflammation in the Tumor Microenvironment.

“A genomic characterization of testicular germ cell tumor immune microenvironment,” Daniel P. Hollern, Katie Hoadley, Benjamin Vincent, Charles M. Perou, TCGA Testicular Germ Cell Tumor Analysis Working Group.

Poster Session – 8 a.m.-noon – Novel Molecular Targets 2.

Drug repurposing of topiramate in obesity-driven endometrial cancer,” Arthur-Quan Tran, Stephanie A. Sullivan, Chunxiao Zhou, David Kaufman, Victoria Bae-Jump.

Major Session – 10:35-11 a.m. – Host Immunity to Oncogenic Viruses.

Blossom Damania, chair.

Mini Symposium – 3-5 p.m. – Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology.

“Geographic disparities in prevalence of baseline prostate inflammation and prostate cancer risk: Results from a multinational trial,” Emma H. Allott.

Poster Session – 1-Biomarkers of Endogenous or Exogenous Exposures, Early Detection, and Biologic Effects

“Smoking exposure and quantitative levels of estrogen-receptor expression in ER+ breast tumors,” Eboneé N. Butler, John A. Baron, Jeannette T. Bensen, Mengjie Chen, Kathleen Conway, Andrew F. Olshan, Melissa Troester.

Wednesday, April 5

Poster Session – 8 a.m.-noon – Health Disparities, Screening and Risk Prediction.

“Projections of cancer incidence and burden among the HIV-positive population in the United States through 2030,” Jessica Y. Islam.

Poster Session – 8 a.m.-noon – Anticancer Precision Clinical Pharmacology.

“Comparison of microbeam versus conventional broadbeam radiation therapy on tumor delivery enhancement of PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin in a triple negative breast cancer mouse model,” Sha X. Chang, Judith N. Rivera, Leah B. Herity, Lauren S. L. Price, Andrew J. Madden, Jose R. Roques, Charlene Santos, David Darr, William C. Zamboni.

Poster Session – 8 a.m.-noon – Nutrition and Anthropometric Features.

“Tissue-based heterogeneity in lobular carcinoma in situ,” Sarah J. Nyante, Emily Ozdowski, Xianming Tan, Thomas J. Lawton.

Recent Advances in Diagnostics and Therapeutics Session – 10:15 a.m.-noon – Novel Diagnostics and Patient Selection Approaches for Therapeutic Trials.

“Gene expression studies in breast cancer trials: Moving past ER and HER2,” Lisa A. Carey.