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02 February 2012 | General, BMBS, CMST, MPNS
 World Cancer Day

Discover how COST Actions are contributing to the fight against cancer. 4 February is World Cancer Day. This year’s theme ‘Together it is possible’ reminds us that we all need to take responsibility for reducing the burden of this disease. Only together will we be able to reduce premature deaths from cancer and other Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) by 25 % by 2025. The global campaign is led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO). Above all, this day aims to raise awareness about cancer prevention and control on a global scale.

How to reduce the risk

Cancer is the uncontrolled growth and spread of cells that can affect almost any part of the body. The growths often invade surrounding tissue and can metastasise to distant sites.

Each year, over 12.7 million people receive a cancer diagnosis and 7.6 million people die from the disease. If this goes unchecked, the global cancer burden is expected to reach 26 million new cases and 17 million deaths by the year 2030.

Approximately 30 % to 40 % of cancer deaths are due to the five leading behavioural and dietary risks and could, therefore, be prevented: high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity, tobacco use, alcohol use. A further one-third of cancers can be cured through early diagnosis and treatment.

Prevention

Remember the risk of cancer can be significantly reduced when:

COST's involvement in cancer-related research

Long before the late symptoms of a disease such as cancer develop, the body’s metabolism begins to change. In order to detect illnesses at the early stage, when metabolic changes begin to occur, and thus improve the probability of successful treatment, scientists need far greater imaging applications. COST Action D38 ‘Metal-Based Systems for Molecular Imaging Applications’ has succeeded in developing a number of high-specificity, high-sensitivity imaging probes for the visualisation of molecular events occurring at cellular level. This molecular imaging approach also has great potential to make better predictions on the effectiveness and toxicity of new drugs for cancer treatment.

Ionizing radiation has been utilised for many years to kill cancer cells. However, most methods give unacceptably high radiation doses to surrounding normal tissues; the risk of radiation damage to vital structures often limits the amount of radiation that can be used to treat patients. COST Action BM0607 'Targeted Radionuclide Therapy' (TRNT) deals with concentrating radioactivity specifically on cancer cells.

Similarly, COST Action MP1002 ‘Nano-scale insights in ion beam cancer therapy’ (Nano-IBCT) aims to acquire greater insight at the nanoscopic and molecular level into radiation damage induced by ion impact. The success of this Action, due to end in 2014, will give great impetus to the practical improvement of this new therapeutic technique.

COST Action BM0703 ‘Cancer and Control of Genomic Integrity’ (CANGENIN) consists of 50 research groups from 22 countries, whose main objective is to advance our knowledge on mechanisms that protect healthy cells from transforming into cancer cells. CANGENIN is providing new opportunities for therapy development and new information on the targeting of DNA damage response pathways in cancer – these have a direct and important relevance for cancer patients including breast cancer, head and neck cancer, prostate cancer, and gastrointestinal cancer patients.

Related Links

Social media

UICC Twitter Page

World Cancer Day Official Facebook Page