Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy in the United States and the fourth most common cancer in women with an estimated 42,160 cases and 7,780 deaths in 2009. According to the American Cancer Society, incidence of endometrial cancer rose 12% and mortality rose 23% in the last decade. Several features of endometrial cancer make it a highly preventable cancer. One, many endometrial cancers are associated with the precursor lesion complex atypical hyperplasia. Second, there are well established high risk cohorts, including obese women and women with Lynch syndrome (or Hereditary Non- polyposis Colorectal Cancer syndrome). Clinical, translational, and basic research efforts toward uterine cancer have traditionally lagged behind research in other sites. This limitation can be attributed to the absence of an organized scientific and patient focus on these tumors. This lack of substantive investment in uterine cancer research is striking when compared to other tumor sites. For innovative, translational research in endometrial cancer prevention to move forward, it is necessary to have a consistent forum to bring together clinical investigators and laboratory scientists from a variety of different institutions across the country. Therefore, we propose to continue our efforts to bring the endometrial cancer community together with the Annual Uterine Cancer Biology Symposium, which aims to: 1) provide a meaningful forum to discuss cutting- edge developments in endometrial cancer biology;2) attract experts in related fields (such as breast cancer, endocrinology, cancer biology) to encourage multi-disciplinary interactions;3) promote collaborations between basic scientists and clinical investigators for the development of more innovative, high-impact translational research in endometrial cancer;and 4) encourage young, talented post-doctoral fellows, clinical residents/fellows, and faculty at the assistant professor level to enter the field of endometrial cancer research. For each symposium, a mixture of clinical topics and basic science topics are presented to promote the development of quality translational research in prevention. We have successfully brought together speakers and participants from across the United States for 6 meetings since 2002. These have been held at M. D. Anderson in Houston, TX, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York, NY. Topics for the annual symposium series have included basic biology and translational opportunities in prevention and treatment, translational research and clinical management of uterine cancers, strategies in the management of advanced uterine cancer, a consensus conference on endometrial cancer and Lynch syndrome (HNPCC), integrating molecular biomarkers into clinical trials, and obesity and endometrial cancer. The 7th annual symposium will take place in the winter of 2010 and proposes to explore the translation of discoveries in model systems to advance the treatment and prevention of endometrial cancer.
Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy in the United States and the fourth most common cancer in women. Clinical, translational, and basic research efforts toward preventing uterine cancer have traditionally lagged behind research in other sites. In order to provide a multi-disciplinary and multi- institutional forum to advance the understanding of endometrial cancer, we propose to continue our efforts to hold an Annual Uterine Cancer Biology Symposium.
