Euro Oncology Summit October 18-19, 2018 | Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Epidemiology of Cancer is the study of the factors affecting Cancer, as a way to conclude possible trends and causes. The study of Cancer Epidemiology uses Epidemiological Methods to discover the cause of Cancer and to recognize and develop improved treatments. This area of study must cope with problems of lead time bias and length time bias. Lead time bias is the theory that early diagnosis may artificially inflate the survival statistics of a Cancer, without really improving the natural history of the disease. Length bias is the concept that gentler growing, more lethargic Tumors are more likely to be identified by Screening Tests, but improvements in diagnosing more cases of indolent Cancer may not translate into better patient outcomes after the implementation of Screening Programs. 

Prevention or Preventive Healthcare means measures that are taken for Cancer Prevention. Cancer can be prevented by living a healthy lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle and regular screening exams help to reduce your risk for some types of Cancer.

Screenings can find Cancer early, when it’s most treatable. Cancer Screening aims to identify Cancer before symptoms appear. This may involve blood tests, urine tests, other tests, or Medical Imaging. The benefits of screening in terms of Cancer Prevention, early detection and subsequent treatment must be weighed against any harm. Worldwide screening, Population Screening or Mass Screening involves screening everyone, generally within a specific age group. Selective Screening identifies people who are known to be at advanced risk of developing Cancer, such as people with a family history of Cancer.

Cancer cells are the cells that divide continuously which flood the blood with abnormal cells and forms solid tumours. Cell division is a normal utilised by the body for growth and repair. A parent cell divides to form 2 daughter cells which are used to build a new tissue or to replace dead cells as a result of damage or ageing. Cancer Cells continue to produce copies where the healthy cells stop dividing as there is a no longer need for more daughter cells. Cancer Cells have capability of spreading from one part of the body to another in a process known as metastasis.

Carcinogenesis is also called as Tumorigenesis or Oncogenesis. It is the formation of cancer where the normal cells are transformed into the Cancer Cells. The process is characterized by changes in the abnormal cell division, cellular, genetic, and epigenetic levels. Cell division is a physiological procedure that occurs in all tissues. Normally the balance between proliferation and automatic cell death, in the form of Apoptosis, is maintained to ensure the consistency of tissues and organs.

Mutagenesis is a method by which the genetic information of an organism is altered, resulting in a mutation. DNA may be altered either naturally or artificially by using physical, chemical and biological agents which results in mutations. Mutagen generally changes the genetic material of DNA of an organism and increases the occurrence of mutation and increased level of Mutations cause Cancer. Some of the chemicals become mutagenic only through cellular processes and all the mutations are not caused by mutagens: “Spontaneous Mutations” occur due to hydrolysis, errors in DNA replication, repair and recombination.

Pathology is vital to Cancer diagnosis, treatment and research. Developments in pathology during the 20th century enabled more precise concepts to evolve and be adopted in clinical practice: cancer grading and staging, carcinoma in situ, Cytopathology in screening and diagnosis, immunohistochemistry and biomarkers. As we enter the 21st century, Cancer is acknowledged as a genetic disease that can be diagnosed and treated using molecular/genomic approaches in addition to traditional surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Another wave of technologic advances in digitization, telepathology, molecular diagnostics and genomic screening marks the latest paradigm shift in Cancer Pathology.

Cancer is basically a disease of tissue growth regulation. In order for a normal cell to transform into a Cancer cell, the genes that regulate cell growth and differentiation must be altered. The affected genes are divided into two broad categories: Oncogenes and Tumor Suppressor Genes. Oncogenes are genes that stimulate cell growth and reproduction. Tumor Suppressor Genes are genes that inhibit cell division and survival. Malignant transformation can occur through the development of novel Oncogenes, the inappropriate over-expression of usual Oncogenes, or by the under-expression or disabling of Tumor Suppressor Genes. Typically, alterations in Multiple Genes are required to transform a normal cell into a Cancer cell.

Cancer Epigenetics deals with the Epigenetic Modifications to the genome of Cancer cells that do not involve any change in the nucleotide sequence. Epigenetic Alterations are as vital as Genetic Mutations in a normal cell transformation to Cancer cells, and their manipulation holds great promise for Cancer prevention, detection, and therapy. In different types of Cancer, a variety of epigenetic mechanisms can be perturbed, such as silencing of Tumor Suppressor Genes and activation of Oncogenes by altered CpG island methylation patterns, histone modifications, and dysregulation of DNA binding proteins. Several medications which have Epigenetic Impact are now used in several of these diseases.

Cancer Immunology is a division of biology involved in understanding the role of the immune system in progression, advancement and the expansion of Cancer the most well recognized application is Cancer Immune Therapy, which uses the immune system as a treatment for Cancer.

Cancer Immunology interacts between the immune system and tumours or distortions.

Recognition of Cancer Specific Antigens

1. Immunosurveillance

• Lymphocytes act as sentries in recognizing and eliminating continuously arising, nascent transformed cells

2. Immunoediting

• Process by which a individual is endangered from Cancer growth and the development of Malignancy Immunogenicity

I. Elimination

II. Equilibrium

III. Escape

Targeted Cancer Therapy is one of the major modes of medical treatment for Cancer. Targeted Therapy blocks the growth of Cancer cells by interfering with Specific Targeted Molecules needed for carcinogenesis and tumor growth rather than by simply interfering with all rapidly dividing cells. Targeted Cancer Therapies are estimated to be more effective than older forms of treatments and less harmful to usual cells. Numerous Targeted Therapies are examples of immunotherapy using immune mechanisms for therapeutic aims developed by the field of cancer immunology. Therefore, as immunomodulators, they are one type of biological response modifiers.

Most Cancers are originally recognized either because of the appearance of signs or symptoms or through Screening. Neither of these leads to a Definitive Diagnosis, which involves the examination of a tissue sample by a pathologist. People with suspected Cancer are examined with medical tests. These commonly include Blood Tests, CT Scans, X-rays and Endoscopy.

The Discovery and Development of Anticancer Drugs, especially cytotoxic agents, differ significantly from the Drug Development Process for any other indication. The unique challenges and opportunities in working with these agents are reflected in each stage of the Drug Development Process.

Radiation Therapy or Radiotherapy is done by using Ionization Radiation to treat Cancer by controlling or destroying malignant cells. Radiation Therapy may be therapeutic in various types of Cancer if they are localized to one area of the body. It can also be used as a part of adjuvant therapy, to prevent tumor recurrence after surgery to remove a Primary Malignant Tumor. Radiation Therapy is synergistic with Chemotherapy, and has been used before, during, and after Chemotherapy in susceptible cancers. The subspecialty of Oncology concerned with Radiotherapy is called radiation Oncology.

Cancer Imaging is the term that covers many approaches used in diagnoses and Research Cancer. It is originally used to diagnose and stage the disease and now it is also used to assist with surgery and Radiotherapy, to identify patients who are responding to treatment and to look for early responses.

Cancer Biomarker is a process or a substance that is indicative of the presence of Cancer in the body. A Biomarker may be a molecule secreted by a tumor or specific response of the body to the presence of Cancer. Genetics, epigenetic, glycomic and Imaging Biomarkers can be utilized for the study of Cancer Transmission, conclusion and visualization. Generally such Biomarkers can be assayed in non-invasively collected bio fluids like serum and blood.

Late logical advancements have helped in understanding the complex connection amongst Microbiome and Cancer. Our body is continuously exposed to Microbial Cells both resident and transient and their byproducts including toxic metabolites. Circulation of toxic metabolites leads to Cancer Progression to distant location from particular microbe resides and may migrate to other locations in the body and associates with Tumor development.

An Oncology Nurse is a specialized nurse who cares for Cancer patients. Cancer patients take a long journey from diagnosis to treatment and beyond. Since cancer affects not only the body but also the psychological and social status of the patient in myriad ways, there is no single path taken by all Cancer patients. The journey is shared between the patient and Healthcare Professionals, and Nurses can provide both care and support to patients throughout their journey.

Palliative Care alludes to treatment that endeavours to enable the patient to feel better and might be joined with an attempt to treat the disease. Palliative Care incorporates activity to decrease physical, enthusiastic, otherworldly and psycho-social trouble.  Unlike treatment that is aimed specifically in destroying Cancer cells. The main objective of Palliative Care is to enhance personal satisfaction.

A Cancer Vaccine is a vaccine that helps in treating existing Cancer or prevents its expansion. Vaccines that treat existing Cancer are known as Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines. Some/many of the Vaccines are "autologous", actually prepared from samples taken from the patient, and are specific to that patient. Some researchers claim that cancerous cells usually arise and are destroyed by the immune system and that Tumors form when the immune system fails to destroy them.

Gene Therapy deals with biomedical research with the objective of impacting the course of different hereditary and procured (alleged multi factorial) diseases at the DNA/RNA level. Cell treatment goes for focusing on different diseases at the cellular level, i.e. by re-establishing a specific cell populace or utilizing cells as therapeutic cargo. For most diseases, gene and cell therapy are applied in combination. Moreover, these two fields have given reagents, ideas, and techniques that are lighting up the better purposes of quality control, stem cell lineage, cell-cell interactions, input circles, enhancement circles, regenerative limit, and redesigning or remodelling.

Metastasis is the process that permits some Cancer cells to break off from their Tumor of origin and take root in a different tissue. This is the main reason people die from Cancer. Currently, we have unmatched opportunities to unravel the biology of this problem, and a related one – the fact that some Tumors attain resistance to treatments over time. Our investigators pursue each aspect of research into Metastasis and Resistance, including Tumor Microenvironment Interactions, cell regulation, Cancer Stem Cells and more.

Clinical Trials are research studies that involve people. Clinical Trials are the finishing step in a long process that begins with research in a lab. Before any new treatment is used with people in Clinical Trials, researchers work for many years to understand its effects on Cancer cells in the lab and in animals. They also try to figure out the side effects it may cause. Trials are available for all stages of Cancer. It is a myth that they are only for people who have advanced Cancer that is not responding to treatment.

The Discovery and Development of Anticancer Drugs, especially cytotoxic agents, differ significantly from the Drug Development Process for any other indication. The unique challenges and opportunities in working with these agents are reflected in each stage of the Drug Development Process.

The study of the Genetic Alterations of Tumor Suppressor Genes and Proto-Oncogenes in Solid Tumors has greatly increased our understanding of cancer biology.  Scientists are expanding our understanding of the fundamental processes by which Solid Tumors Develop, progress, and respond to treatment. Efforts span many research areas including cancer genetics and genomics, cell regulation and signalling, cancer metabolism, Tumor Microenvironment, animal models of cancer, and metastasis.

Complementary and Alternative are the terms that are used to describe many types of products, practices, and systems that are not part of mainstream medicine or standard care. Complementary and Alternative methods privilege to cure Cancer are nearly all unproven methods that are well proven to safely fight Cancer tend to be adopted into mainstream medicine fairly quickly.