Track Categories
The track category is the heading under which your abstract will be reviewed and later published in the conference printed matters if accepted. During the submission process, you will be asked to select one track category for your abstract.
Cancer is a disease that is caused when cells in the body divide in an uncontrollable manner. This result in production/growth of accumulated mass of cells or lump which are called tumours. The branch of biology dealing with prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer or tumours is called cancer biology. Till now, more than 200 types of cancer have been discovered. Cancer is classified based on the origin of tumour cells. There are various biochemical, genetic and environmental factors that contribute in development of cancer. It can be caused by genetic defects that are passed on generation to generation. Most cancer cases occur due to genetic mutations resulting from irregular lifestyle, obesity and other environmental factors. Some viruses are also causative agents of cancer such as Herpes virus and Human Papillomavirus. Some autoimmune diseases are also linked with cancer such as Crohn disease and celiac disease. Cancerous cells are of two types-benign and malignant. Benign tumour cells do not spread to other parts of the body. Malignant tumour cells have the potential to invade other cells or spread other parts of the body and this is called metastasis.
In most of the cases, there is no apparent symptoms or sign of cancer growth in the body. Signs and symptoms of cancer appear in form of cell mass, lump or ulcer. Symptoms and signs of cancerous growth in the body depend on the type and origin of cancer. There are other symptoms too that may or may not be related to cancer such as unusual weight loss, fever, weakness, fatigue, sore throat, persistent cough, nausea, unusual bleeding or discharge, loss of appetite and others. Generally imaging study of the affected area is performed with the help of X-rays, CT, MRI, Ultrasound. Endoscopy and some blood test are also performed to detect the abnormalities.
Various types of cancers are classified based on site of origin or affected tissues or cells such as Carcinoma, Sarcoma, Lymphoma, Leukemia, Myeloma and Mixed type cancer. Breast cancer, liver cancer, colorectal cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer and pancreatic cancer are some of the organ specific cancers. More than 100 types of cancers affect humans. Several types of cancer are formed in liver in which hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type. Colorectal cancer is formation of cancerous cells in colon (large intestine) or rectal; it is also called bowel cancer. Cervical cancer is cancer arising from cervix. Human papillomavirus is the main causative agent in development of the cervical cancer. It is the fourth most common cause of death from cancer in women.
Cancer bioinformatics is concerned with the application of bioinformatics methods and computational tools to understand the biochemical metabolism, molecular mechanism of oncogene and proto-oncogene’s regulation and signalling pathway of cancer. The field is also associated with the identification and validation of novel network biomarkers and personalized medicines in prevention and treatment of cancer.
Cancer biomarkers refer to a molecule or substance secreted by the body in response to presence of tumour cells in the body. Biomarkers are used to identify early stage cancer, or to diagnose the disease condition of patient. It can also be used to define the predictive treatment or monitor the treatment process given to the patients.
It can be defined as the study of identification of carcinogenic factors and cause of cancer. There are many cancer-causing factors such as irregular lifestyle, obesity, tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption. Other factors known to affect cancer risks are exposure to the radiations and chemicals. Some hormones too, can cause the development of cancer by promoting abnormal cell proliferation such as insulin like growth factors and their binding proteins.
Cancer epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene activity or expression without altering the nucleotide sequences in the genetic material. Examples of these types of changes include DNA methylation and histone modification.in different types of cancer. A variety of epigenetic modifications can be applied such as silencing of tumour suppressor genes or activation of oncogenes, histone modification or dysregulation of DNA binding proteins.
Oncogenomics is a sub-field of genomics that deals with the characterization of cancer associated genes. More specifically, it focuses on the genomic, epigenomic and transcriptomic alterations in cancer. It also deals with the identification of novel tumour suppressing genes that may be used to find new treatment approach.
Cancer treatments and therapies vary based on type of cancer a person is suffering from. The major treatments are surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, hormonal therapy, targeted therapy, laser therapy, palliative care, stem cell transplant and precision medicine. There are also some vaccines to treat a certain type of cancer such as Human papillomavirus vaccine, hepatitis B vaccine.
Alternative cancer treatments do not play a direct role in treatment of cancer, rather they may be useful to reduce the sign and symptoms of cancerous cells. Common signs and symptoms that a cancer patient feels such as unusual weight loss, extreme fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain, anxiety, sore throat, persistent cough, unusual bleeding or discharge, loss of appetite, etc can be reduced by these treatments. Some of the alternative treatments are exercise, meditation, music therapy, aromatherapy, hypnosis, acupuncture, massage relaxation techniques, and yoga.
Robotic oncology is an advanced form of cancer treatment in which oncologist perform a robot-assisted minimally invasive or laparoscopic surgery to treat cancer such as prostate, liver, stomach, colon as well as some gynaecologic cancers.
Paediatric oncology is a branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in children. The most common cancer in children are leukemia, or blood cancer and lymphoma. Children with cancer are affected with cognitive and learning problems. The type of cancer that develop in children are often different from cancers that develop in adults.
Oncology nursing is the meeting the various needs of cancer patients during the diagnosis screening, and treatment of cancer. Well trained oncology nurses are employed for this work.
Palliative care is the treatment provided to cancer patients to feel better and it can be a combination of variety of methods. The goal of palliative care is reducing the symptoms of cancer and improving the quality of life.
Cancer is the one of the deadliest diseases in the world today. There are various types of treatments available to prevent or treat cancer. It is also called group of diseases. In major cases, survival rates are very low.
Current innovations in cancer research are:
- Implantation of radioactive elements at the site of malignant tumour: brain cancer, cervical, prostate and other cancers.
- Precision cancer medicine administration
- Nutraceuticals application
- Stem-cell therapy
- Nanomedicine
- Computational imaging of pathology (radiomics and pathomics)
- RNA based transcriptome study
- Dynamic BH3 profiling
Continuous Anticancer drug discovery and development is critical to find a complete cure for cancer. Due to the drug resistance developed by tumour cells for existing treatments, this is becoming a mandatory approach to fight the disease.
- Various kinase enzymes are important in control of cell growth and the replication cycle. These can act as regulators of cell division checkpoints to ensure the integrity of DNA replication through sensing DNA damage and initiating repair, while halting cell cycle. Many cancerous cells are deficient in DNA damage checkpoints due to deletion or mutation in p53 pathway. This provides an opportunity to selectively target tumour cells to enhance the ionization effect or widely used DNA damaging cancer chemotherapies.
- Scientific investigation on inhibitors of checkpoint CHK1 can be another milestone for anticancer drug discovery approach.
- Cancer cells are specifically dependent on molecular chaperones and related proteins that regulate homeostasis. These are promising targets for new anticancer therapies.
- Deregulated apoptosis is hallmark of cancer and Bcl-2 family of proteins are pivotal to mediating the pathway of this process. Inhibiting their process can e a significant way for developing new anticancer drugs. Many plant sources are known to be valuable sources of novel anti-cancer properties.
Cancer pharmacology encompasses study of basic mechanisms of signal transduction associated with cell proliferation and apoptosis, mechanism of actions of new anti-tumour agents and discovery of new drugs, Basic mechanism of DNA damage and DNA repairs and development of novel strategies for gene therapy. It also includes investigation on role of growth factors in the progression of tumours and identification of new signal transduction pathway and new receptors. Other areas of cancer pharmacology research include aberrations in the mechanisms of programmed cell deaths associated with tumoral growth, genes associated with tumoral growth, interleukin therapy, free radical generation and chemotherapeutic resistance.
Cancer medical reports contain a complete information about diagnosis and prescribed medications based on cancer type and severity of disease. It also has description about the origin of disease or tumour shape size, colour and affected tissue or area. Cancer medical reports also describe about the laboratory tests and other diagnostic tools a cancer patient has undergone to.
It is the branch of medicine deals with process of regrowth, repair or replace the diseased cells It also includes generation and use of therapeutic stem cells, tissue engineering and production of artificial organs or tissues. Example of regenerative medicine include the use of extracellular matrix materials in treatments of chronic wounds and orthopaedic surgeries, and transplantation of in vitro grown cells, tissues and organs.
Cancer is a disease occurs due to abnormal cell division in the body. The abnormal cell proliferation occurs as a result of absence of cell division signal regulators. In other terms, cancerous cells lack the molecular components that instruct them to stop dividing uncontrollably and to die. The various chemical, cellular and environmental factors induce the tumour growth in the body. Exposure to certain substances have been linked to development of cancer such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, irregular lifestyle, obesity, exposure to radiation and infection with oncoviruses. Some cancers are also caused by inherited genetic defects. Some hormones play an important role by promoting abnormal cell proliferation. Also, few autoimmune diseases are linked with cancer.
Factors causing cancer can be controlled and therefore, cancer is generally preventable. Greater than 30% of deaths from cancer can be prevented by avoiding risk factors such as tobacco, excess weight or obesity, poor diet and physical inactivity, unsafe sexual mating, and air pollution. Not all environmental causes are preventable, such as exposure to radiation and cancer caused through hereditary genetic defects.