Overview
Primary hepatobiliary cancers (hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma) are a heterogeneous group of liver malignancies that present significant biological and clinical challenges largely related to their aggressiveness, typically advanced stage at the time of diagnosis, high recurrence rates after surgical resection, lack of curative systemic therapies, and continued dismal patient survival outcomes. Worldwide, primary hepatobiliary malignancies are the second most common cause of cancer deaths for men and women, making them an important global health problem. Moreover, in the United States, hepatobiliary cancer incidence over the past thirty-plus years has been increasing at an alarming rate, with liver cancer death rates recently reported to be increasing at the highest rate of all cancer sites among both men and women.*
This single topic conference is uniquely focused on disseminating cutting edge basic and translational research findings that include sharing significant unpublished work aimed at providing new mechanistic insights into the cellular and molecular pathogenesis of hepatobiliary cancers and advancing present and emerging translational approaches towards identifying and personalizing more effective targeted therapies, as well as devising needed prevention strategies to reverse the unfavorable trends associated with these devastating liver cancers.
Key topic areas that will be covered include hepatobiliary cancer signaling pathways, stemness, microenvironment, microRNA dysregulation, epigenetic modifications and therapeutics, genomic profiling, molecular and immunotherapeutic targeting, changing etiology, and future challenges for therapy and prevention.
* Ryerson AB et al. Annual report to the nation on the status of cancer, 1975-2012, featuring the increasing incidence of liver cancer. Cancer 2016; 122: 1312-1337