Leading breast cancer researchers to meet in Stockholm

[PRESS INVITATION 12 June 2012] Although cases of breast cancer are soaring worldwide, research is advancing rapidly and great strides have been made in several fields. Some of the worlds leading breast cancer researchers are now to meet in Stockholm for a Nobel Conference in order to exchange knowledge and stimulate further scientific inquiry.

The conference will address three main questions:

• What are the latest findings on the assessment of the congenital risk of breast cancer?
• What can tumour biology tell us about which tumours will spread and which will not?
• What new therapies are being developed? Treatments using hormones, cytostatic drugs and targeted drugs are being refined and improved  but what is the current state of research, and what breast cancer treatments can we expect to see available in the near

"Breast cancer: progress and challenges in prevention, risk prediction, tumor biology and treatment" is one of this year's Nobel conferences. This small annual series of conferences is arranged with the support of the Nobel Assembly, which chooses the themes from a pool of suggestions made by scientists at Karolinska Institutet.

"The most important thing about this conference is that it brings together all kinds of scientists: epidemiologists, tumour biologists, oncologists and so forth," says Arne Östman, professor of molecular oncology. "We have to learn from each other so that we can understand the disease better and accelerate the production of new preventive or curative therapies."

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer amongst women, and in 2010, just short of 8,000 women were diagnosed with the disease in Sweden. The incidence of breast cancer - i.e. the number of people who develop the disease - is increasing around the world, including Sweden.

"The risk of breast cancer is lower for women who have many children and start having children when young," says Per Hall, professor of epidemiology. "We would therefore expect breast cancer to be rising quickest on continents like Asia and Africa, where countries have recently abandoned such traditions, but this is not the case. Breast cancer is on the increase all over the world, including Sweden, and we don't know why. This is where epidemiology comes in to give us a clearer picture of the situation."

Reporters are asked not to attend the actual lectures as only limited seats are available. They are, however, welcome to contact the press office to arrange interviews with the scientists involved in fields in which highly significant discoveries have been made in the past few years.

Nobel Conference: "Breast cancer: progress and challenges in prevention, risk prediction, tumor biology and treatment"

• Date & time: Thursday 14 June, 1.00 pm to Sunday 17 June 1.00 pm.
• Venue: Nobel Forum, Nobels väg 1, Karolinska Institutet, Solna.

• Scientific programme (Pdf file, 4 Mb)

For further information, please contact one of the arrangers:

• Contact the Press Office