New research on Asiatic forms of cancer

The incidence of cancer is increasing sharply in Asia and it is estimated that in ten years’ time, every other cancer patient will be from this continent. A conference to be held tomorrow, Friday 14 September, will present the latest research on the cellular mechanisms of cancer.

Reporters are welcome to attend the conference and interview world-leading cancer researchers from Singapore and Sweden.

Conference: Karolinska Institutet – Cancer Science Institute joint symposium on cancer research.
Proceedings take place at the Clinical Research Centre (CRC) Auditorium, MD11, Level 1, 10 Medical Drive, Singapore, on September 14, between 8.45 am and 5.00 pm.

Increasing prosperity and an ageing population is causing a dramatic rise in cancer diseases around much of Asia. China accounts for a fifth (2.2 million) of the world’s new cancer cases. However, the nature of the cancer differs from one part of the world to another. While lung, breast, prostate and skin cancer are equally prevalent in the east and west, stomach cancer is the second most common tumour disease in Asia but relatively uncommon in the USA and Europe (the 14th most common).

“In Europe we have more bowel cancer, but this form of the disease is also increasing in Asia,” says Lorenz Poellinger, professor at Karolinska Institutet and senior principal investigator at the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (National University of Singapore). “We hope that our collaboration with Sweden will help us answer many of the questions we share and that the conference places more of the focus on the Asian dimensions of the disease.”

Participating at the conference will be some of the very top authorities in cancer research as regards understanding the mechanisms that cause the development of cancer. Many tumours grow faster than the blood vessels that are to supply them with oxygen; low levels of oxygen affect the properties and metabolism of the tumour, and destabilise its genes. Professor Randall S Johnson of Karolinska Institutet and the University of Cambridge will be describing the latest research on this phenomenon. The way the tumour handles this lack of oxygen goes a long way to determining how many metastases can form. He will also be showing that metastasis depends not only on the parent tumour but also on normal, healthy cells in the blood vessels, which can influence the process in both directions.

One of the most important methods for understanding tumour growth is to study the genome, and how genes change with mutations and in patterns of expression. This knowledge will enable scientists to categorise tumours, which can lead to new ways of making diagnoses and designing therapies that specifically target certain kinds of tumour. Professor Jussi Taipale of Karolinska Institutet and Dr Patrick Tan, senior principal investigator at the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, will be presenting the latest research in this field.

“The genomic studies will have a massive clinical impact,” says Professor Poellinger.

The symposium is a joint arrangement between Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the National University of Singapore.

For further information, contact:

Professor Lorenz Poellinger
Mobile (Singapore): 9610 8501
Email: lorenz.poellinger@ki.se

Press officer Sabina Bossi
Mobile: +46 70 614 6066
Email: sabina.bossi@ki.se

Karolinska Institutet is one of the world’s leading medical universities. It accounts for over 40 per cent of the medical academic research conducted in Sweden and offers the country’s broadest range of education in medicine and health sciences. Since 1901 the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has selected the Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine.

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