Monday 27 November 2006
This week experts from The Institute of Cancer Research, Europe’s leading cancer research centre, will host the second international meeting to discuss the issues around targeted prostate cancer screening in men at increased risk of the disease. The meeting will bring together European Union (EU) candidate countries and new member states.
In the UK alone nearly 32,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, and the disease accounts for nearly one quarter (23%) of all new male cancer diagnoses. Approximately 200,000 men are diagnosed annually in the EU, and the incidence is on the increase.
The meeting will take place in Szczecin from the 28th - 30th of November with the support of the Pomeranian Medical University’s International Hereditary Cancer Centre (IHCC), Poland, and the Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine, Turkey. It is funded by the the EC-funded AIDIT project. The project aims to facilitate the inclusion of more research teams from the EU’s associated candidate countries and new member states into an international study looking at targeted screening for prostate cancer called IMPACT.
The IMPACT study is the first international screening study for men with a genetic risk of prostate cancer. It has been reported that men who have an alteration in their BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene have an increased risk of prostate cancer. IMPACT, which currently involves research centres from over 20 different countries, aims to see if targeting cancer screening at carriers of these alterations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, will lead to diagnosis of prostate cancer at an earlier stage.
Delegates from all over Europe and further afield are expected to attend the meeting, and they will hear from leading experts in the field of prostate cancer and cancer genetics.
Dr Ros Eeles, Team Leader in Translational Cancer Genetics at The Institute of Cancer Research, and chief investigator of IMPACT and AIDIT, commented, “This is a very exciting collaboration where researchers in over 20 countries are working together to offer prostate cancer screening to this higher risk group”
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For further information, please contact:
Nadia Ramsey
The Institute of Cancer Research
0044 (0) 20 7153 5359
[email protected]
Notes to editors:
- The IMPACT Study. The IMPACT and AIDIT international meeting, which is being held at the Radisson Hotel in Szczecin from the 28th – 30th of November, has been funded as part AIDIT, an EC framework 6 project which aims to expand the IMPACT study into the associate candidate countries and new member states. For more information about the FP6 programme please visit the CORDIS website.
- IMPACT is an international collaboration involving research centres in over 20 different countries. The study is coordinated by Dr Rosalind Eeles of The Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. For further information and interviews please contact The Institute of Cancer Research press office. Alternatively, please visit the IMPACT website: www.impact-study.co.uk
- The Institute of Cancer Research. The Institute of Cancer Research is Europe’s leading cancer research centre with expert scientists working on cutting edge research. It was founded in 1909 to carry out research into the causes of cancer and to develop new strategies for its prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care. Website at: www.icr.ac.uk.
- The Institute and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust work in a unique partnership, forming the largest comprehensive cancer centre in Europe. This relationship enables close daily contact with those on the frontline in the fight against cancer - the clinicians, the carers and most importantly, the patients.