The global cancer genomics consortium\u27s third annual symposium: From oncogenomics to cancer care

The Global Cancer Genomics Consortium (GCGC) is a cohesive network of oncologists, cancer biologists and structural and genomics experts residing in six institutions from Lisbon, United Kingdom, Japan, India, and United States. The team is using its combined resources and infrastructures to address carefully selected, shared, burning questions in cancer medicine. The Third Annual Symposium was organized by the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Lisbon Medical School, Lisbon, Portugal, from September 18 to 20, 2013. To highlight the benefits and limitations of recent advances in cancer genomics, the meeting focused on how to better translate our gains in oncogenomics to cancer patients while engaging our younger colleagues in cancer medicine at-large. Over two hundreds participants actively discussed some of the most recent advances in the areas cancer genomics, transcriptomics and cancer system biology and how to best apply such knowledge to cancer therapeutics, biomarkers discovery and drug development, and an essential role played by bio-banking throughout the process. In brief, the GCGC symposium provided a platform for students and translational cancer researchers to share their excitement and worries as we are beginning to translate the gains in oncogenomics to a better cancer patient treatment

The global cancer genomics consortium\u27s symposium: new era of molecular medicine and epigenetic cancer medicine - cross section of genomics and epigenetics

The Global Cancer Genomics Consortium (GCGC) colleagues continue to function together as an interactive multidisciplinary team of cancer biologists and oncologists with interests in genomics and building a bidirectional bridge between cancer clinics and laboratories while taking advantage of shared resources among its member scientists. The GCGC includes member scientists from six institutions in Lisbon, United Kingdom, Japan, India and United States, and was formed in December 2010 for a period of five years. Driven by valuable lessons learned from the previous symposiums, the fourth GCGC Symposium focused on a cross section of genomic and epigenetic cancer medicine and it\u27s for this reason we chose the conference theme - New Era of Molecular Medicine and Epigenetic Cancer Medicine: Cross Section of Genomics and Epigenetics. This year\u27s symposium was co-organized by the Organization for Oncology and Translational Research (OOTR) at the Shiran Hall, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, from November 14 and 15, 2014. The symposium attracted around 80 participants from 14 countries, and counted with 23 invited platform speakers. Scientific sessions included eight platform sessions and one poster session, and three plenary lectures. The symposium focused on cancer stem cells and self-renewal, cancer transcriptome, tumor heterogeneity, tumor biology, breast cancer genomics, targeted therapeutics and personalized medicine. The issues of cancer stem cells and tumor heterogeneity were echoed in most of the scientific presentations. The meeting concluded with an oral presentation by the best poster awardee and closing remarks by meeting co-chairs

A cluster randomized, controlled trial of breast and cervix cancer screening in Mumbai, India: methodology and interim results after three rounds of screening

Cervix and Breast cancers are the most common cancers among women worldwide and extract a large toll in developing countries. In May 1998, supported by a grant from the NCI (US), the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India, started a cluster-randomized, controlled, screening-trial for cervix and breast cancer using trained primary health workers to provide health-education, visual-inspection of cervix (with 4% acetic acid-VIA) and clinical breast examination (CBE) in the screening arm, and only health education in the control arm. Four rounds of screening at 2-year intervals will be followed by 8 years of monitoring for incidence and mortality from cervix and breast cancers. The methodology and interim results after three rounds of screening are presented here. Good randomization was achieved between the screening (n = 75360) and control arms (n = 76178). In the screening arm we see: High screening participation rates; Low attrition; Good compliance to diagnostic confirmation; Significant downstaging; Excellent treatment completion rate; Improving case fatality ratios. The ever-screened and never-screened participants in the screening arm show significant differences with reference to the variables religion, language, age, education, occupation, income and health-seeking behavior for gynecological and breast-related complaints. During the same period, in the control arm we see excellent participation rate for health education; Low attrition and a good number of symptomatic referrals for both cervix and breast

Neratinib Plus Paclitaxel vs Trastuzumab Plus Paclitaxel in Previously Untreated Metastatic ERBB2-Positive Breast Cancer: The NEfERT-T Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract Importance Efficacious ERBB2 (formerly HER2 or HER2/neu)-directed treatments, in addition to trastuzumab and lapatinib, are needed. Objective To determine whether neratinib, an irreversible pan-ERBB tyrosine kinase inhibitor, plus paclitaxel improves progression-free survival compared with trastuzumab plus paclitaxel in the first-line treatment of recurrent and/or metastatic ERBB2-positive breast cancer. Design, Setting, and Participants In the randomized, controlled, open-label NEfERT-T trial conducted from ..

Is human papillomavirus vaccination likely to be a useful strategy in India?

Two vaccines that protect against infection by some of the oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) subtypes have recently been licensed for use in population-based vaccination strategies in many countries. However, these products are being promoted as ′cervical cancer vaccines′ based on inadequate data. Specifically, there remain several concerns about the duration of immunogenicity, length of follow-up of trial subjects, endpoints chosen in vaccine trials, applicability of trial results to real populations, the safety of these products, and their cost-effectiveness as public health interventions. Furthermore, it is unlikely that vaccination will obviate the need for setting up robust and cost-effective screening programs in countries like India. This article will discuss various aspects of HPV vaccination from a public health perspective, especially from the point of view of its relevance to India and other South Asian countries

Secretory carcinoma arising in radial scars of the breast: A case report and review of literature

Radial scars or complex sclerosing lesions are common benign lesions in the breast with characteristic radiological and pathological features. The pathological diagnosis of carcinoma arising in this setting requires careful amalgamation of clinical, radiological and morphological details. Ancillary techniques like immunohistochemistry aid in the diagnosis. We report an unusual case of a secretory carcinoma arising in the background of a radial scar

Radioiodide uptake and sodium iodide symporter expression in breast carcinoma

416-422Breast cancer is a common malignancy in women all over the world and novel therapeutic approaches are required for the treatment of patients who become refractory to conventional therapies. Thyroid cancer is being treated successfully with radioiodine since many years. The iodide is transported inside the thyroid epithelial cell via sodium iodide symporter (NIS) which is a trans-membrane protein. The present study was aimed to explore the uptake of radioiodide (RAI) and the expression of NIS in breast tissues of invasive ductal carcinoma patients. Breast tissues from tumor region (Tu-Br) as well as corresponding normal region (N-Br) were collected from patients of invasive ductal carcinoma. In vitro RAI uptake, its efflux and NIS expression were studied. The uptake of RAI (1.98±1.75 ´ 105 cpm/g) in Tu-Br was significantly higher as compared to that observed in N-Br (0.31±0.27 ´ 105 cpm/g) and fast efflux was observed in the tissue samples. NIS gene expression was positive in 41.66% (10/24) samples of Tu-Br. None of the N-Br samples expressed NIS gene. In 14 samples of Tu-Br, RAI uptake as well as NIS expression was studied. In 50%  of these Tu-Br samples RAI uptake as well as of NIS gene expression was positive. The results indicate that RAI uptake is significantly higher in breast tumor tissues as compared to their normal counterpart and in future  radioiodine may be an important agent for treatment of breast cancer