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CHICAGO -- "Unsolved Mysteries" has the ring of a true-crime program from TV, but scientists-turned-sleuths will have the starring roles in the aptly named sessions at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting.

Returning for encore presentations, three "Unsolved Mysteries" sessions focus on issues that continue to perplex the keenest minds in cancer research.

"We began with two of these sessions last year and increased to three this year, as they were well attended," said AACR program chair Elaine Mardis, PhD, of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. "These sessions address current and ongoing conundra in cancer research."

One of the sessions will address the thus-far disappointing efforts to target the insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-1R) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K). A strong scientific rationale exists for targeting IGF-1R and PI3K, but the evidence has yet to translate into therapeutic success.

A second Unsolved Mysteries session will examine the basic and clinical science of cancer-related cachexia. Why many patients develop the wasting syndrome despite the best care available remains unclear. The mysteries will wrap up with a review of evidence surrounding the molecular age of cancer, focusing on differences among adults, pediatric patients, and the in-between group known as AYA (adolescents/young adults).

"At each Unsolved Mysteries sessions, speakers will address various aspects of the topics and then try to involve the audience in the discussion," said Mardis, who will installed as the AACR president for 2018-2019 during the meeting. "Each session is meant to be a dialog to try to learn more about the mysteries."

Historically AACR has proved the venue for presentations and discussions by scientists at the forefront of cancer research, and 2018 will be no exception. Keynote addresses will include two leaders in the development of the CRISPR genome editing technology. Jennifer Doudna, PhD, of the University of California Berkeley, and Emmanuelle Charpentier, PhD, of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, will discuss the origin and development of CRISPR and its application in cancer research.

Joseph Bertino, MD, of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in Cancer Research and present the associated lecture. C. Kent Osborne, MD, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, will present one of several Distinguished Lectureships, reviewing new strategies for targeting HER2 in breast cancer. Anna D. Barker, PhD, of Arizona State University SkySong in Scottsdale, will present a Distinguished Lecture focusing on biomarker discovery and the application of biomarkers in cancer research and clinical practice.

NCI Director Ned Sharpless, MD, will be on hand to discuss his vision for NCI and focus areas, followed by a "Fireside Chat" with current AACR President Michael Caligiuri, MD, of City of Hope in Duarte, California, and President-Elect Elizabeth Jaffee, MD, of Johns Hopkins' Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore. They will field questions from the audience and by electronic submission.

Pasi Janne, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, will present the Waun Ki Hong Lectureship for Outstanding Achievement in Translational and Clinical Cancer Research: "Developing Combination Precision Therapies for Lung Cancer." Dafna Bar-Sagi, PhD, of NYU-Langone Medical Center in New York City, will present the AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship: "Unravelling Mechanisms of Ras-Mediated Tumorigenesis."

Results of several anticipated clinical trials will be presented during the meeting. At the opening plenary session on Sunday, Alexander Eggermont, MD, of Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in Villejuif, France, will report the primary results from a randomized clinical trial of adjuvant pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for resected stage III melanoma.

A Monday session on clinical trials in lung cancer will include presentation of data from several studies evaluating immunotherapy combination strategies as initial treatment for metastatic disease. Investigators will review and discuss results with pembrolizumab and chemotherapy, atezolizumab (Tecentriq) plus bevacizumab (Avastin) and chemotherapy, and nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy). Initial data also will be reported from a trial of neoadjuvant nivolumab.

The clinical trials, as well as numerous lectures on clinically relevant topics, reflect the transition of the AACR meeting from a focus primarily on basic and early-stage clinical studies to more emphasis on clinical practice of oncology. The transition reflects the rapid pace of advances in cancer research.

"The general thrust in cancer research has been to take these very important basic discoveries that continue to roll out and try to shape them into the daily reality for cancer patients in clinics," said Mardis. "The increasing breadth you've seen in the meeting over the years has really born this out. The program committee gets larger every year because we need more people to cover the breadth of the meeting and to make sure that it includes what people are hearing about, the newest, cutting-edge developments."

"I think translation of cancer research from basic findings now has a broader brush from early detection-susceptibility and prevention, all the way to new approaches to characterizing cancers and new treatment approaches," she added. "We're trying to get our arms around all of this and make sure it's all there for our attendees, and our arms keep getting longer."

In keeping with tradition, the meeting will have a full complement of plenary, focus, and "Meet the Expert" sessions, as well as forums to promote the discussion of a broad range of topics in cancer research. The meeting begins here tomorrow and continues through Wednesday.

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