Highlights and summary of the 28th annual meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer

The 28th annual meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) was held November 8-10, 2013 in National Harbor MD, and was organized by Paolo Ascierto (Instituto Nazionale Tumori - Fondazione 'G. Pascale'), David Munn (Georgia Regent's University), A. Karolina Palucka (Baylor Institute for Immunology Research) and Paul Sondel (University of Wisconsin). This meeting included over 1100 registered participants from 32 separate countries, making it the largest SITC meeting held to date. It highlighted significant worldwide progress in the development and application of cancer immunology to the practice of clinical oncology, including advances in diagnosis, prognosis and therapy, utilizing a variety of immunological pathways and mechanisms for a variety of oncologic conditions. Presentations and posters demonstrated that many concepts that had been pursued preclinically in the past are now being translated into clinical practice, with clear benefits for patients. One month after this 28th annual meeting, the Journal Science selected the field of Cancer Immunotherapy as the overall #1 scientific "breakthrough" for 2013.