Targeted treatments and immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer – December 2024

This course is ideal for research nurses, clinical nurse specialists, pharmacists, clinical trials coordinators and any other healthcare professionals involved in the diagnosis and treatment of people with lung cancer.

Delivered over two morning sessions, Dr Elaine Vickers – a leading independent educator on the science of new cancer treatments – will guide you through many of the most relevant topics relating to modern systemic treatments for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The first session will focus on the gene faults that drive many NSCLCs and on the targeted treatments that exploit these faults, such as inhibitors of EGFR, ALK, ROS1, B-Raf, HER2, MET, and RET.

The second session explores cancer’s relationship with the immune system and focuses on the checkpoint inhibitor group of immunotherapies, which include PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 targeted antibody therapies.

Programme

Session One: Tuesday 10 December 2024 – 9:30-12:30pm

1. Lung cancer cell biology and genetics

• The cell of origin of various types of lung cancer
• How and why lung cancer develops, and the differences between lung cancers in smokers and non-smokers
• The faulty genes and proteins that drive adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas

2. Treatments that target EGFR

• The role of EGFR and signalling pathways in NSCLC
• EGFR gene mutations that create sensitivity to EGFR inhibitors
• EGFR inhibitors: 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd generation, and beyond

3. More targets and treatments

• ALK & ROS-1 inhibitors
• Targeting B-Raf, HER2, MET, RET, NTRK, K-Ras G12C
• What about antibody-drug conjugates?

Session Two: Tuesday 17 December 2024 – 9:30-12:30pm

1. Cancer’s relationship with the immune system

• How cancer’s relationship with the immune system changes over time
• Mechanisms of immune evasion by cancer cells
• Introduction to immunotherapy
• When is a targeted therapy or immunotherapy more likely to work?

2. Introduction to immune checkpoint inhibitors

• Introduction to checkpoint proteins on T cells
• Mechanism of action of immune checkpoint inhibitors
• Combining checkpoint inhibitors with other treatments

3. How can we predict who will benefit from them?

• Measuring PD-L1 protein levels and tumour mutation burden
• Preparing the patient: antibiotics, diet, and other influences on the microbiome

4. Experience from trials

• What have we learned from clinical trials with PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA-4-targeted antibodies?

Audience

This Introduction to Targeted Treatments and Immunotherapy for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer course is ideal for research nurses, clinical nurse specialists, pharmacists and clinical trials coordinators. It may also be of interest to other healthcare professionals involved in the diagnosis and treatment of people with non-small cell lung cancer such as junior doctors.

As ever, Elaine will use colourful illustrations and jargon-free explanations to help learners gain a broad understanding of the concepts covered.

Course Lead

Dr Elaine Vickers, PhD of Science Communicated Ltd has worked as a cancer educator for over twenty years and has previously acted as science communicator for three of the UK’s leading medical research charities, including four years in the Science Information team at Cancer Research UK.

Elaine is passionate about demystifying the science behind cancer biology and the latest cancer treatments such as kinase inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies and immunotherapies.

She is experienced in teaching people with any level of scientific or medical knowledge from cancer patients through to medical oncologists translating complex and often overwhelming topics into easily digestible and understandable knowledge, using colourful illustrations to explain scientific concepts.

The second edition of her book, A Beginner’s Guide to Targeted Cancer Treatments – commended by the British Medical Association book awards is due out at the end of 2024.

Booking

To book a place on this course go to Tickets at the bottom of the page.

At checkout you can make an online card payment or enter a coupon code to make alternative payment arrangements.

Alternative payment arrangements include:

• requesting an invoice (INVOICE),
• The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust staff internal funding (NUTH) – you will need to complete a Trust study leave form.

Please see the Making payments & Coupons sections of the Help and FAQs.