CAHON-JHO at ASCO 2025 Meeting Report

NEW! Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy: Translating Discoveries into Clinical Applications
Date and Venue: Friday, May 30, 2025 - Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Chicago, IL

Event Overview

This Continuing Medical Education (CME) event, hosted by the Chinese American Hematologist and Oncologist Network (CAHON) and the Journal of Hematology & Oncology (JHO), was held in conjunction with the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. Although not an official ASCO event, it provided a unique forum for knowledge exchange between leading scientists, clinicians, and trainees in the field of immuno-oncology.

The program aimed to highlight groundbreaking advances in cancer immunotherapy, including innovations in T-cell therapy, immune checkpoint blockade, micro-environmental reprogramming, and the influence of sex biology on treatment outcomes. By fostering collaboration, the meeting emphasized translation of laboratory discoveries into clinical practice to improve cancer care.

CAHON Growth

Dr. Liang Deng, CAHON President, opened the event by highlighting the organization’s ongoing expansion, mentorship-driven initiatives, and global impact in bridging U.S.–China collaborations.

Journal Impact

Dr. Delong Liu, Editor-in-Chief of JHO, reported that the journal has achieved a record-breaking impact factor of 29.9 since its founding in 2008. With projections that it could approach a ranking of 40 in 2025, JHO continues to be recognized as a leading voice in hematology and oncology research, further validating its role in disseminating high-quality translational science.

Program Agenda

• 6:00 – 6:30 pm | Doors Open, Networking, Dinner Buffet
• 6:30 – 6:45 pm | Opening Remarks
  • Liang Deng, MD, PhD – CAHON President, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • Delong Liu, MD, PhD – Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Hematology & Oncology, New York Medical College
• 6:45 – 7:15 pm | Next Generation T-Cell Therapies for Cancer
  • Patrick Hwu, MD – President & CEO, Moffitt Cancer Center
• 7:15 – 7:45 pm | Innovations in Cancer Immunotherapy: Overcoming Resistance through Combination Strategies
  • Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD, FAACR, FASCO – Director, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine
• 7:45 – 8:15 pm | Reprogramming the Tumor Microenvironment for Pancreatic Cancer
  • Lei Zheng, MD, PhD – Executive Director, Mays Cancer Center, UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center
• 8:15 – 8:45 pm | Androgen-Mediated CD8+ T Cell Exhaustion: Unveiling Sex Bias in Cancer Immunotherapy
  • Zihai Li, MD, PhD – Founding Director, Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology, The Ohio State University
• 8:45 – 9:00 pm | Closing Remarks
  • Jing-Zhou Hou, MD, PhD – CAHON Board Chair, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

 

Patrick Hwu, MD, is the president and CEO of Moffitt Cancer Center, one of the nation’s leading cancer hospitals and the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center based in Florida.

As an internationally recognized tumor immunologist, Dr. Hwu has led pioneering research and clinical efforts to better understand the interactions between tumors and the immune system. He helped launch the field of gene modified T cells, publishing research on the first chimeric antigen receptor directed against cancer. His work focuses on vaccines, adoptive T-cell therapies and immune resistance. An internationally recognized physician scientist, Hwu has a proven track record leading collaborative teams to make breakthroughs in science while improving cancer outcomes for cancer patients.

Prior to joining Moffitt, Dr. Hwu was the head of the Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he held various leadership roles for 17 years. In 2003, he was recruited as the first chairman of the Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology. He was also the associate director of the Center for Cancer Immunology Research (2004) and chair of the Department of Sarcoma Medical Oncology (2012).

Dr. Hwu earned his medical degree from The Medical College of Pennsylvania. He served as a house officer in Internal Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and completed a fellowship in oncology at the National Cancer Institute, where he worked as a principal investigator leading tumor immunology studies.

Patrick Hwu, MD — Next Generation of T-Cell Therapies for Cancer

Dr. Hwu discussed advances in adoptive cell therapy (ACT) with a focus on TIL therapy, where some patients have remained disease-free for more than 15 years. Novel ex vivo culture methods, including CD40 agonism, improved TIL expansion and quality. He also highlighted discoveries of non-canonical tumor antigens, such as melanoma-associated retained intron neoantigens (MARINs), which broaden the target landscape. Genetically engineered T cells—such as TGFBR2 knockouts and PDHB-deficient CD8 T cells—show promise in overcoming exhaustion and metabolic barriers in solid tumors.

Key Message: T-cell therapy is evolving toward broader application through enhanced antigen targeting and functional reprogramming.

 

Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, FAACR, FAIO, FASCO, is the Meyer Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine, Chief, Cancer Services, NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine,  and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell College. Dr. Wolchok is a clinician-scientist exploring innovative immunotherapeutic strategies in laboratory models, and a principal investigator in numerous pivotal clinical trials. 

Dr. Wolchok helped establish immunotherapy as a standard approach to cancer treatment and was instrumental in the clinical development leading to the approval of ipilimumab and the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab for advanced melanoma.  He supervises an NIH R01-funded basic science laboratory which is focused on investigating novel immunotherapeutic agents in pre-clinical laboratory models. The focus of his translational research laboratory is to investigate innovative means to modulate the immune response to cancer as well as to better understand the mechanistic basis for sensitivity and resistance to currently available immunotherapies.

Dr. Wolchok received his BA degree from Princeton University, and his MS, PhD and MD degrees from New York University. Dr. Wolchok has received numerous honors for his work including: American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Memorial Award, the Giants of Cancer Care in Melanoma Award, the Berson Alumni Achievement Award in Clinical and Translational Science and the Zelmanovich Young Alumni Achievement Award from NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the Alfred Taubman Prize for Excellence in Translational Medical Research (Univ of Michigan) and has been designated a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (FASCO), as well as board of directors. He has been awarded the the Distinguished Alumni Award at MSK, the AACR-Joseph H. Burchenal Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Cancer Research, the ESMO Award for Immuno-Oncology and the David Karnofsky Award from ASCO.

Dr. Wolchok has served on the Board of Directors of ASCO and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) and was the Treasurer of SITC. He is an elected member of Amerian Associaion for Cancer Research (AACR) board of directors, elected to the AACR academy of fellows (FAACR), fellow of the academy of Immuno-Oncology (FAIO), the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), Association of American Physicians (AAP) and is Chair of the Melanoma Committee for the ECOG-ACRIN NCI cooperative group. Most recently he has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).   He is a full member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and center director for the Parker Institute of Cancer Immunotherapy. 

Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, FAACR, FASCO — Immune Checkpoint Blockade

Dr. Wolchok reviewed a decade of clinical evidence for checkpoint inhibitors. Ten-year results from CheckMate 067 confirmed durable overall survival with nivolumab-based regimens, with nearly half of patients alive at 10 years. He underscored the emerging role of neoadjuvant immunotherapy, citing the S1801 trial, which demonstrated superior event-free survival compared to adjuvant treatment. Novel combinations, such as dual PD-1/LAG-3 blockade, are extending benefits across patient groups.

Key Message: Checkpoint blockade has matured into a durable standard of care; neoadjuvant approaches may redefine treatment in resectable melanoma.

 

Lei Zheng, MD, PhD is the executive director of Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the vice president for oncology and a professor of medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He also holds the Mays Family Foundation Distinguished University Presidential Chair of Oncology. He specializes in the treatment of pancreatic and gastrointestinal cancers.

Dr. Zheng is widely recognized as a global leader in pancreatic cancer care, attracting patients from around the world for his expertise. Dr. Zheng’s groundbreaking research focuses on the tumor microenvironment in pancreatic cancer and the development of mouse models to advance preclinical studies of combination immunotherapies. He previously was co-director of the Pancreatic Cancer Precision Medicine Center of Excellence Program at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Dr. Zheng earned his undergraduate degree in pre-medicine from Peking University and completed his medical degree at Peking Union Medical College. He went on to earn a doctoral degree in molecular medicine from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. After completing his residency at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, he pursued a fellowship in medical oncology at Johns Hopkins. His postdoctoral research fellowships included molecular medicine at UT Health San Antonio and biochemistry and molecular biology at Rockefeller University.

Dr. Zheng is an NIH-funded researcher, who currently leads several significant projects, including two R01 grants as principal investigator, one P50 grant as project leader, and numerous collaborative research initiatives. His research interests include pancreatic cancer biology, translational immunology, cancer immunotherapy and the tumor microenvironment.

Dr. Zheng was the former director of the Multidisciplinary Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Research Laboratory and the NCI T32 Training Program on Surgical Oncology Research at Johns Hopkins. His leadership roles include chairing the China Advisory Group for the International Affairs Committee of the American Association for Cancer Research and editor-in-chief of the Annals of Pancreatic Cancer. Among his many accolades, Dr. Zheng received the prestigious Hirshberg Award for pancreatic cancer research at the 45th Anniversary Meeting of the American Pancreas Association in 2014.

In addition to his research and clinical work, Dr. Zheng has authored numerous publications, including several book chapters, and served as editor of the book Pancreatic Cancer. He is an active member of professional organizations such as the Chinese American Hematologist Oncologist Network (CAHON), the International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (IHPBA), and the American Pancreas Association (APA).

Lei Zheng, MD, PhD — Reprogramming the Tumor Microenvironment for Pancreatic Cancer

Dr. Zheng emphasized the immunologically “cold” nature of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Vaccine-based strategies such as GVAX induced tertiary lymphoid structures but lacked durable effector CD8 T-cell activity. Combining GVAX with PD-1 inhibitors and CD137 agonists increased cytotoxic infiltration and correlated with improved survival. Clinical data from a phase II trial demonstrated improved resectability and metastasis-free survival with SBRT plus GVAX and PD-1 blockade. Targeting immunosuppressive macrophages (CCR2/5, Trem2⁺ subsets) emerged as an additional strategy.

Key Message: PDAC requires multi-pronged immunotherapy—vaccines to prime, checkpoint agents to sustain, and macrophage-targeting to relieve suppression.

 

Zihai Li, MD, PhD is a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James and the founding director of the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology (PIIO), which is dedicated to transforming the OSUCCC – James into a leader in basic and clinical immunology research, including prevention and survivorship. He also holds the Klotz Chair in Cancer Research. 

With primary interests in the mechanisms of immune regulation in cancer, his research team has made seminal contributions to understanding the immunological properties of heat shock proteins in cancer immunotherapy and immune tolerance. They provided the first genetic evidence linking the heat shock response to antigen cross-presentation and adaptive immunity; pioneered the use of autologous, tumor-derived HSP70-peptide complex for the immunotherapy of leukemia; and discovered that gp96, a paralog in the endoplasmic reticulum, is the master molecular chaperone for Toll-like receptors (TLRs). 

Dr. Li is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of gp96 biology due to a number of contributions such as the discovery of its ATPase activity, peptide-binding properties and client-binding domain. His current research interests focus on developing better immunotherapeutics against cancer by reprogramming the tolerogenic tumor microenvironment, including regulatory T-cells, thrombocytes and unfolded protein response. His work is supported by the National Institutes of Health, including a program project grant from the National Cancer Institute and four RO1s for which I am principal investigator.  

He is also widely published in scientific journals on the topics of immune tolerance, cancer immunology and chaperone biology, and serve as an elected member of such professional organizations as the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and the Association of American Physicians (AAP). 

Zihai Li, MD, PhD — Androgen-Mediated CD8+ T Cell Exhaustion and Sex Bias

Dr. Li presented compelling data on sex differences in cancer outcomes. His research demonstrated that androgen receptor (AR) signaling drives CD8⁺ T-cell exhaustion, explaining male-biased cancer incidence and poorer outcomes. AR blockade restored effector T-cell activity and synergized with PD-1 blockade in preclinical studies. He also described the role of transcription factor ZFP148, which represses effector differentiation, its deletion enhanced checkpoint efficacy. Clinical correlations showed that high ZNF148 expression is linked to resistance and reduced survival.

Key Message: Sex hormones and transcriptional regulators shape T-cell fate; targeting AR and ZFP148 may mitigate sex-based disparities in immunotherapy. 

Conclusion

The CAHON–JHO symposium underscored the momentum of immuno-oncology:

• Durability of checkpoint blockade is now proven beyond a decade.
• Innovation in T-cell engineering and antigen discovery is expanding therapeutic reach.
• Resistance mechanisms—from suppressive macrophages to sex hormone signaling—are being dissected and therapeutically targeted.
• Personalization remains central, with strategies tailored to tumor type, micro-environment, and patient biology.

The partnership between CAHON and JHO was highlighted at the event, combining CAHON’s professional network with JHO’s research platform to foster knowledge exchange and practical application in immunotherapy. By convening international leaders and fostering collaboration, CAHON and JHO continue to drive the translation of immunotherapy breakthroughs into meaningful patient benefit.