The Role of Telomeres and Telomerase in Cancer

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案的目的是组织一次名为“端粒和端粒酶在癌症中的作用”的科学会议，会议将于2004年11月3日至7日在加州旧金山的君悦酒店举行。这是继两年前有260人参加的第一次会议之后，AACR关于这一主题的第二次特别会议。基于第一届会议的成功和包括抗端粒酶I期临床试验在内的快速进展，本次会议将提供一个及时的机会，汇集对端粒和端粒酶癌症生物学及其与衰老关系感兴趣的基础和临床科学家。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The aim of this proposal is to organize a scientific conference entitled "The Role of Telomeres and Telomerase in Cancer" at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco, California from November 3-7, 2004. This is the second AACR Special Conference on this topic, following the initial meeting two years ago that registered ~260 participants. Based on the success of the first conference and the rapid pace of advances including anti-telomerase phase I clinical trials, this conference will provide a timely opportunity to bring together basic and clinical scientists interested in the field of telomere and telomerase cancer biology and its relationship to aging. The major objective of this meeting is to provide a venue for a group of leading scientists to get together to discuss the field of telomere biology and the ribonucleoprotein enzyme, telomerase, as these topics relate to cancer and aging. What is needed is a focused cancer meeting on this topic to determine the current state of the field, where the deficiencies are, and how to advance the most promising areas into translational research. This proposed conference is designed to bring together cell and molecular biologists, including clinicians interested in fundamental cancer mechanisms as they relate to telomeres and telomerase, to present new discoveries, and to discuss the most late-breaking findings. There will be ample free time to encourage informal discussions to promote future collaborative interactions between scientists of different disciplines. This conference is intended to cover some of the following topics: telomerase structure, enzymology and recruitment; role of telomeres in genomic stability and cancer; telomerase cancer diagnostics and therapeutics; telomere length regulation, end protection and genomic stability; consequences of telomere dysfunction and repair; senescence and cancer; and the effects and regulation of telomerase in normal cells.