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Date: Thursday, June 20, 1996 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: NCI Press Office(301)496-6641
Leaders in the field of cancer genetics will gather for a second international conference at Hood College in Frederick, Md., on June 26-28 to grapple with the major issues facing the burgeoning field of cancer epidemiology.
"Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer: From Gene Cloning to Populations" is the title of the meeting during which participants will debate the issues surrounding genetic testing, communicating useful information to patients, and predicting individual cancer risk. The conference is cosponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Foundation for Advanced Cancer Studies, Inc.
At the end of the sessions, groups of conference participants will draft recommendations for future research priorities in the field of cancer epidemiology -- a science that studies the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to cancer risk in human populations. Environmental factors include smoking, diet, exercise, and chemical exposures.
"This meeting will provide a framework for us to translate the considerable advances in molecular genetics into concrete benefits for patients," says Daniela Seminara, Ph.D., M.P.H., co-organizer of the conference and program director of NCI's Extramural Genetic Epidemiology Program in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.
The conference is divided into two sessions. The first will focus on studies related to the 15 to 20 hereditary cancer genes that have already been identified -- genes such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 (associated with breast and ovarian cancers), MLH1 and MSH2 (associated with hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer), and p53 (associated with Li-Fraumeni syndrome).
"Individuals with alterations in these genes are highly susceptible to cancer -- most have a greater than 50 percent chance of developing cancer in their lifetimes," said Alfred Knudson, M.D., Ph.D., from NCI and Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and conference chairman.
But, explained Knudson, for many of the other inherited cancer syndromes (there are about 200 in total), there is no single gene alteration associated with the disease. Because the risk factors are more difficult to evaluate, it is harder to predict who will get the disease. These other inherited cancers, of which lung cancer is an example, will be the focus of the second session of the conference and are likely to involve interactions of multiple genes -- both with each other and with environmental factors.
In the first session, researchers will discuss recent studies on populations carrying alterations in the major cancer predisposing genes, as well as the problems involved with translating the genetic information into benefits for patients. In addition to genetic epidemiologists, speakers will include physicians and others involved with the psychosocial and ethical issues of genetic testing, representatives from companies offering genetic testing, community leaders involved with the local BRCA1 Ashkenazi Jewish study in Washington D.C., science writers, and scientists working on methods to detect gene alterations in large populations. At the end of this session, three groups of conference participants, representing interdisciplinary areas of research, will convene to address the following questions:
In the second session, speakers will address issues involved in identifying as yet unknown cancer-associated genes, in dissecting the genetic and non-genetic risk factors that contribute to cancer susceptibility, and in using biological markers for evaluating environmental risk factors. At the close of this session, a second series of panels will draft recommendations to guide:
"The conference will provide an open forum for debate, and for giving careful thought to the complex scientific and human issues that go hand in hand with the knowledge explosion in cancer genetics," said Seminara.
Members of the media interested in attending the meeting and receiving a copy of the program should contact Nancy Nelson at the NCI Press Office, (301) 496-6641 or fax: (301) 496-0846.