Symposium on Hereditary Breast & Ovarian Cancers: Risk and Challenges

简介（由申请人提供）：这次关于遗传性乳腺癌和卵巢癌的国际会议是继之前在欧洲和美国分别组织的个别专题讨论会之后召开的。会议结构包括一个介绍性会议，主题是乳腺癌和卵巢癌的预防和早期诊断，另外五个全体会议涉及与这些肿瘤的生物学和临床意义有关的各个方面，最后一个会议包括一个圆桌会议，将处理这一问题的管理策略。虽然五次全体会议的重点是遗传性癌症（占患有这些癌症的妇女的少数），但越来越明显的是，从家庭中发生的癌症中吸取的教训也在不同程度上适用于“零星”发生的癌症，即事先不知道遗传状况。事实上，这些癌症的预防、诊断和治疗方面的进展与遗传性癌症的研究进展是密切相关的：癌症易感性与宿主的激素环境有关，磁共振成像在早期检测中的应用，特定基因异常导致的DNA修复缺陷在致癌中的意义。我们预计，这次会议将汇集来自两大洲的专家，并由该领域的感兴趣的青年工作者参加，会议将讨论与疾病风险有关的一些问题，以及如何在更早（和更有利）的情况下应对这些风险的挑战。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This international meeting on hereditary breast and ovarian cancer follows on the heels of prior individual symposia previously organized separately in Europe and in United States. The meeting structure consists of an introductory session on the general topic of prevention and early diagnosis of breast and ovarian cancer, five additional plenary sessions dealing with various aspects related to the biology of these tumors and to the clinical implications, and ending with a session including a round table that will deal with strategies in management of this problem. Although the focus of the five plenary sessions is on hereditary cancers (making up the minority of women afflicted with these cancers), it has become increasingly obvious that the lessons learned from their occurrence within families are also applicable to a variable extent to those that occur 'sporadically' -that is, without prior knowledge of a hereditary condition. In fact, the progress in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these cancers has gone hand in hand with what is being learned in hereditary cancer: predisposition to cancer in relation to the host's hormonal environment, magnetic resonance imaging in early detection, implications of DNA- repair defects resulting from specific genetic abnormalities in causing cancer. We anticipate that this meeting, bringing together experts from two continents, and attended by interest young workers in the field will lead to discussion on a number of issues relating to disease-risks, and the challenges on how to address these risks at earlier (and more favorable) circumstances. Public Health Relevance: Cancers of the breast and ovary account for approximately 60,000 deaths annually in the United States. Hereditary cancers, although only accounting for 10% of these occurrences, lead the way in the determination of relevant genetic characteristics and in the implementation of preventive and surveillance measures. Thus this meeting will be of interest to workers dealing with all aspects of breast and ovarian cancers.