IARC research highlights at the World Cancer Congress 2022

Dr Elisabete Weiderpass, IARC Director

IARC Director Dr Elisabete Weiderpass will deliver a keynote speech during a session on “Breakthroughs on the horizon”. In addition to describing IARC’s mission and research strategy, she will highlight some of the most disturbing figures relating to the evolving global cancer burden and some of the most encouraging research that IARC scientists are leading.

IARC scientists are engaged in areas such as personalizing cancer prevention, identifying biomarkers for early detection, improving cancer screening programmes, and modelling transmission of carcinogenic infections. Dr Weiderpass will present some of the most recent advances made in these areas, which could help to bring about a world where fewer people develop cancer.

• Plenary session: Breakthroughs on the horizon. 20 October, 8:30 CET.

Dr Partha Basu

IARC is organizing a session to highlight two recent research projects that will significantly improve access to vaccines against human papillomavirus (HPV) globally. Dr Partha Basu, Deputy Head of the Early Detection, Prevention, and Infections Branch at IARC, will present data from studies evaluating a single-dose regimen of HPV vaccine and data from the phase III randomized controlled trial evaluating the new indigenously developed HPV vaccine in India.

Dr Basu will also participate in three other sessions: a session, organized by the United States National Cancer Institute, on “Integrative oncology as an effective tool to address cancer treatment and cancer patient management in LMICs”, which aims to enhance integrative oncology worldwide as a potential tool to reduce the global cancer burden; a session organized by UICC on “Leveraging health systems innovation to promote cervical cancer elimination in the Commonwealth”, where he will present how to capitalize on COVID-19 investments in surveillance to track and improve cervical cancer screening and other system-strengthening actions; and a UICC-supported session on “Reimagining cancer research in Europe”, where various models of potential collaboration to support research on new strategies for cancer prevention in Europe will be presented and discussed.

• Reimagining cancer research in Europe. 18 October, 15:30 CET.

• Integrative oncology as an effective tool to address cancer treatment and cancer patient management in LMICs. 19 October, 14:00 CET.

• Leveraging health systems innovation to promote cervical cancer elimination in the Commonwealth. 19 October, 16:40 CET.

Dr Béatrice Lauby-Secretan

Oral cancer is highly prevalent in South-East Asia and the Western Pacific, where it is linked to the use of smokeless tobacco and areca nut products. Volume 19 of the IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention series provides comprehensive reviews and consensus evaluations of the evidence on the effectiveness of primary and secondary preventive interventions that may reduce the incidence of and mortality from oral cancer.

IARC scientists Dr Andre Carvalho and Dr Béatrice Lauby-Secretan, Deputy Head of the Evidence Synthesis and Classification Branch, will chair a 40-minute virtual round table session in which experts from the Volume 19 Working Group present important aspects and challenges of oral cancer prevention and the outcomes of this Handbook.

In a related presentation, Dr Suzanne Nethan, an IARC Visiting Scientist who works with Dr Lauby-Secretan, will report on the level of evidence that quitting exposure to established risk factors for oral cancer – tobacco smoking, use of smokeless tobacco, use of areca nut (with and without tobacco), and alcohol consumption – has an effect on risk of oral cancer. Dr Nethan will give this presentation on behalf of IARC scientist Dr Véronique Bouvard. Dr Nethan studies evidence on the effectiveness of interventions for cessation of smokeless tobacco and areca nut use, and on the level of global implementation of the various control policies for smokeless tobacco and areca nut.

Dr Lauby-Secretan will also give an overview of the past achievements and future plans of the IARC Handbooks programme, in a rapid-fire presentation.

• Abstract Rapid Fire Session: Epidemiology, Screening & Early Detection / Programme implementation. 18 October, 12:00 CET.

• Abstract Rapid Fire Session: Prevention, Awareness, Risk factors. 18 October, 14:20 CET.

• Oral cancer screening: what is the evidence? Digital session available on demand.

Dr Valerie McCormack

A breast cancer cohort study in Africa – the African Breast Cancer – Disparities in Outcomes (ABC-DO) Study – found that across five countries in sub-Saharan Africa the number of children left motherless due to breast cancer deaths exceeded the number of breast cancer deaths. Building on this work, the Maternal Orphans due to Cancer Deaths: Global Estimates project focuses on the impact of cancer in adults on their children, which may extend across the phases of cancer care and, for adults who do not survive, beyond the parental death.

The project aims to estimate the global number of orphans due to maternal deaths from cancer in 2020. In a rapid-fire session, Dr Florence Guida, a scientist in the IARC Environment and Lifestyle Epidemiology Branch, will present the first such global estimates and the major cancer types contributing to maternal orphans due to cancer deaths.

• Abstract Rapid Fire Session: Health systems, Health economics and cancer. 19 October, 11:40 CET.

Dr Isabelle Soerjomataram

IARC continues to closely monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on cancer. IARC is currently involved in multiple national, regional, and global initiatives to assess the impact of the pandemic on cancer control and care. The ultimate aim of these projects is to guide national stakeholders on mitigation strategies to minimize the impact on cancer control programmes and prepare countries for future crises.

IARC joined the COVID-19 and Cancer Global Taskforce to help coordinate efforts to synthesize and rapidly disseminate data on how the pandemic is affecting cancer outcomes worldwide. IARC will also launch a new interactive tool to compare the impact of COVID-related delays and recovery strategies on cancer control programmes such as the World Health Organization (WHO) global initiative to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem.

At the UICC World Cancer Congress 2022, the IARC Cancer Surveillance Branch will coordinate a session on the impact of COVID-19 on the cancer continuum globally. Four speakers will present and discuss the impact of COVID-19 on cancer diagnosis, screening, and care, as well as prevention programmes such as HPV vaccination. This session is co-organized with the Latin American and Caribbean Society of Medical Oncology (SLACOM).

In addition, the IARC Cancer Surveillance Branch will contribute to a session organized by UICC on the impact of alcohol consumption on cancer globally. Four speakers will discuss alcohol consumption and cancer in different world regions, focusing on success stories of policies and actions to reduce the burden of alcohol-related cancers worldwide.

• COVID-19 and impact on cancer services and outcome worldwide: Approaches to inform national recovery strategies and preparedness for future pandemic. 18 October, 15:30 CET.

• Abstract Rapid Fire Session: COVID and cancer. 19 October, 14:00 CET.

• Spotlight Stage – Day 2 Afternoon break. 19 October, 16:30 CET.

• Alcohol and cancer: shaping policies to protect people. 18 October, 12:00 CET.

Dr Carolina Espina

Dr Carolina Espina of the IARC Environment and Lifestyle Epidemiology Branch will chair a digital session organized by IARC with participants from the Latin American and Caribbean Society of Medical Oncology (SLACOM), the National Cancer Center Japan, and the African Cancer Institute at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

The session aims to support the World Code Against Cancer initiative as a global enterprise to develop evidence-based cancer prevention recommendations, suited to the different regional epidemiological, socioeconomic, and cultural conditions, under an umbrella framework and a standardized methodology. Regional Codes Against Cancer will offer not only unified and clear evidence-based messages to educate the general population on primary and secondary prevention of cancer, but also an exceptional public health instrument to guide and support governments in the implementation of cancer control strategies, as well as a competency-based e-learning tool for primary health-care providers. Dissemination, monitoring, and evaluation are core elements of the World Code Against Cancer initiative.

• World Code Against Cancer Framework. Digital session available on demand.