National Cancer Center Hosts 'Sarcoma Research Symposium'

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] The Rare Cancer Research Project Group at the National Cancer Center announced on the 1st that it will hold the "1st Sarcoma Clinical and Basic Research Symposium" on the afternoon of the 4th at the large lecture hall in the research building of the National Cancer Center.

This symposium is co-hosted by the Korean Innovative Group for Sarcoma Research (KINGS), a sarcoma research group, and is supported by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s National Institute of Health and the National Cancer Center Development Fund Foundation.

Sarcoma is a representative rare cancer that mainly occurs in the musculoskeletal system but can develop anywhere in the body. It is broadly divided into malignant bone tumors and soft tissue sarcomas. There are roughly 70 subtypes included under these categories.

According to the 2019 National Cancer Registry statistics, there were 469 cases of malignant bone tumors and 1,258 cases of soft tissue sarcomas annually, making sarcomas relatively frequent among rare cancers. Rare cancers generally refer to cancer types with an incidence rate of fewer than 5 cases per 100,000 people. Sarcomas occur more frequently in children, adolescents, and young adults compared to other cancers. Advanced sarcomas at stage 3 or higher have a very poor prognosis, making basic and clinical research to improve treatment outcomes urgently needed.

Under the slogan "All for One, One for All," this symposium was organized to expand the sporadic sarcoma research conducted domestically into multicenter studies and to contribute to improving sarcoma treatment outcomes through collaboration between basic and clinical researchers.

In the first part, the sarcoma clinical research session will feature presentations on ▲surgical techniques using 3D printing for sarcoma patients ▲chemotherapy for pediatric sarcoma patients ▲carbon ion therapy for sarcoma patients ▲a biobanking consortium for multicenter sarcoma research. In the second part, the sarcoma basic research session will introduce basic research achievements such as ▲pathological research in sarcoma ▲identification of immune cells in sarcoma ▲development of targeted therapies for chondrosarcoma ▲research on metastasis control strategies for osteosarcoma.

Kim Junhyuk, director of the Rare Cancer Research Project Group and head of orthopedics at the National Cancer Center, who planned the symposium, said, “Due to the rarity and diversity of sarcomas, basic and clinical research is not as active compared to common cancers. The integration of nationwide clinical information and research resources, as well as collaboration among researchers, is urgently needed, and the National Cancer Center is taking proactive steps in this public interest area.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.