Immune Oncology Research Institute

11/09/2026

🏆 We are proud to share that IMMONC CEO and Co-Founder, Prof. Gevorg Tamamyan, has received the 2026 Global Health Catalyst Distinguished Leader Award.

This is an important recognition of his work and contribution to oncology and global health, and a proud moment for the entire IMMONC team.

For us, it is especially meaningful to see the leadership behind IMMONC recognized internationally. It gives us even more motivation to continue developing clinical research, strengthening international collaboration, and contributing to better cancer care in Armenia and beyond. 🌍

Congratulations to Prof. Tamamyan on this well-deserved recognition! 👏

03/09/2026

We are proud to congratulate Dr. Amalya Sargsyan, Lead of the Adult Solid Tumors Team and IO Accessibility Research Lead at the Immune Oncology Research Institute, on receiving the ESMO - European Society for Medical Oncology Leadership & Career Development Award. 🏆

As part of this important next step in her professional journey, Amalya will join Prof. Sandra Strauss at UCL Health in London to further develop her expertise in Sarcoma and Adolescent & Young Adult (AYA) oncology, with a particular focus on osteosarcoma. 🇬🇧🔬🩺

Amalya has consistently combined clinical work, research, advocacy for better access to cancer care, and international collaboration with one central goal: improving outcomes for patients and strengthening oncology care in Armenia.
Her growing focus on sarcoma and AYA oncology represents an important area for the future of cancer care in our country, and we are proud to see her continue this journey alongside internationally recognized experts in the field.🌍✨

Congratulations, Amalya, on this well-deserved achievement. 🎉 We look forward to seeing the knowledge, collaborations, and experience from this opportunity translated into meaningful progress for patients in Armenia and globally. 🤝🌟

24/08/2026

We congratulate our colleague, Gohar Geghamyan, on her birthday! 🎉

The IMMONC team wishes Gohar continued professional growth, inspiring opportunities, meaningful achievements, and success in every new endeavor.

May the year ahead be filled with new ideas, rewarding experiences, and many memorable moments.

10/08/2026

🧬 What if we could know who is most likely to benefit from immunotherapy — before treatment even begins?

In a new Nature Medicine study, Wanxiang Shen and colleagues introduce COMPASS, a pan-cancer AI foundation model designed to predict response to immune checkpoint inhibitors using pretreatment tumor transcriptomes. Trained on 10,184 tumors across 33 cancer types and validated across 16 independent clinical cohorts, COMPASS outperformed 22 existing prediction methods. But what makes this work particularly compelling is that the model does more than predict outcomes — it also helps explain the biology behind them, connecting response and resistance to mechanisms such as IFN-γ signaling, cytotoxic T-cell activity, TGF-β signaling and immune exclusion. 🔬🤖

This points toward a potentially important shift in precision immuno-oncology: moving beyond isolated biomarkers toward AI systems that can interpret the complex interaction between tumors and the immune system. From better patient selection to understanding resistance and identifying new therapeutic strategies, the implications are substantial. If you work in immuno-oncology, precision medicine or AI-driven cancer research, this is a study worth reading in full. 🎯

Read the full article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-026-04502-7

31/07/2026

We are proud to share that Dr. Ruzanna Papyan, Lead of IMMONC’s Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Team, has co-authored a newly published article in Pediatric Blood & Cancer📚🔬

This publication is more than an academic milestone—it reflects the importance of locally generated evidence, international collaboration, and persistent research in improving care for children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer.

Congratulations to Dr. Papyan and all contributing authors on this important achievement! 🎉🌍

Read the full article here:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1545-5017.70556

29/07/2026

What if your own immune cells could be transformed into a personalised weapon against cancer?

🧬 Sipuleucel-T made that idea a clinical reality, becoming the first FDA-approved therapeutic cancer vaccine for advanced prostate cancer.

In their landmark review, Martin A. Cheever and Celestia S. Higano explain how this therapy proved that immunotherapy could extend survival even without dramatic tumour shrinkage. It became a major milestone in oncology and helped open the door to modern immune-based cancer treatment. 🔬

Read the full article here: https://aacrjournals.org/clincancerres/article/17/11/3520/12151/

21/07/2026

👁️ A major barrier in the treatment of metastatic uveal melanoma has been broken.

Tebentafusp became the first systemic therapy to significantly improve overall survival in this rare eye cancer, which had remained largely resistant to conventional immune checkpoint inhibitors.

📊 In the phase III IMCgp100-202 trial, median overall survival reached 21.6 months with tebentafusp versus 16.9 months with investigator-selected therapy, corresponding to a 32% reduction in the risk of death.

🔬 The study by Prof. Dr. med. Jessica Hassel and colleagues demonstrated that meaningful survival gains can be achieved despite relatively modest radiographic tumor responses, challenging conventional assumptions about how treatment benefit should be assessed.

🎯 By redirecting T cells toward gp100-expressing tumor cells, tebentafusp has introduced a new immunotherapeutic strategy for solid tumors.

Read the full article here ⬇️։
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2304753

20/07/2026

Amalyan Sargsyan, Lead of the Adult Solid Tumors Team and IO Accessibility Research at the Immuno-Oncology Research Institute, joined Armenpress’s “Ask the Doctor” podcast to discuss the most important questions related to sarcoma:

• What is sarcoma?
• How is it diagnosed and treated?
• Why is early detection critical for successful treatment?

Watch the full interview below ⬇️

Ամեն տարի հուլիսին նշվում է սարկոմայի իրազեկման ամիսը։ Սա կարևորագույն շրջան է՝ հանրության և բժշկական համայնքի ուշադրությունը հրավիրելու այս հազվադեպ, սակայն...

06/07/2026

🔬 What if the future of frontline multiple myeloma treatment is already taking shape?

The PERSEUS trial, led by Pieter Sonneveld and colleagues and published The New England Journal of Medicine, is becoming one of the most discussed recent studies in transplant-eligible newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

The study evaluated the addition of subcutaneous daratumumab to VRd-based therapy and showed findings that may influence how clinicians think about frontline treatment, depth of response, and MRD-driven disease control.
However, the real value of PERSEUS is not only in the headline results.

Its impact becomes clearer when looking at the full treatment design, progression-free survival data, MRD negativity rates, safety profile, transplant feasibility, and clinical implications.

📖 Read the full article here:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2312054

01/07/2026

What if the next major improvement in Stage III colon cancer treatment is not just stronger chemotherapy — but teaching the immune system to finish the job? 🔬

The phase III ATOMIC trial shows that adding atezolizumab to standard adjuvant mFOLFOX6 improved outcomes in patients with resected Stage III dMMR colon cancer. Three-year disease-free survival reached 86.3% with atezolizumab plus chemotherapy, compared with 76.2% with chemotherapy alone — a 50% reduction in the risk of recurrence or death.

This is more than another trial result. It is a clear signal that biomarker-driven immunotherapy is moving into earlier-stage, curative-intent colon cancer care. For patients with dMMR/MSI-H tumors, universal MMR/MSI testing is not just diagnostic information — it may directly shape the adjuvant treatment strategy. 🧫

Read more: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2507874