Posts by El Bachir MOURABIT

The era of targeted immunotherapy has revolutionized liver cancer treatment, offering unprecedented therapeutic efficacy. Comprehensive approaches are emerging to enhance patient outcomes, prompting a reevaluation of traditional surgical concepts for liver cancer.

The 2024 Chinese Congress of Holistic Integrative Oncology (CCHIO) and the 4th Asian Oncology Society (AOS), hosted by the China Anti-Cancer Association (CACA), and co-organized by the Institute for Development Strategy of Holistic Integrative Medicine and Shaanxi Anti-Cancer Association, was grandly held in the ancient capital of Xi'an from November 14th to 17th. During this conference, CACA joined hands with several global academic groups in cancer prevention and treatment, including the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), the Latin American and Caribbean Society of Medical Oncology (SLACOM), the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), the Senologic International Society (SIS), and the London Global Cancer Week (LGCW), to hold special summits, enhancing the friendship among Chinese and international peers in cancer prevention and treatment, and is expected to promote more cooperation and exchange. Connecting hearts across continents, planning for development. On the morning of November 17th, the CHINA-AFRICA and CACA-LGCW summits attracted international experts and scholars from China, Africa, Europe, and other places, focusing on the global perspective and achievements in cancer treatment, as well as the progress and challenges in cancer research and treatment.

The field of cancer treatment has made substantial progress, entering an era of multi-faceted, comprehensive approaches. With the government’s focus on major diseases, traditional cancer treatments like surgery, interventional therapy, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy have evolved into multidisciplinary approaches. Yttrium-90 (Y-90) selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) is now emerging as a key treatment option for liver cancer. On October 12, the Radiotherapy and Immuno-Oncology Symposium successfully took place. Oncology Frontier invited Prof. Lin Zhang, the first certified Y-90 supervisor in mainland China and an expert from Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, to discuss the clinical applications and precision surgical principles guiding Y-90 therapy.

The treatment of resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) continues to evolve, with debates focusing on whether patients should receive adjuvant immunotherapy following successful neoadjuvant immunotherapy and surgery. This topic was a highlight of discussions at the 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) hosted by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). Dr. Mark G. Kris from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center shared his insights on this matter.

The clinical use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) offers a promising approach for locally advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancers, potentially improving cure rates. Recent clinical trials have demonstrated that ICIs combined with chemotherapy, chemoradiotherapy, anti-HER2, or anti-VEGF agents exhibit synergistic and complementary effects. Compared to chemotherapy alone, these combinations show improved pathologic complete response (pCR) rates, major response rates, ypT0N0 rates, and potentially improve patient outcomes. At the recent 2024 CACA Integrated Gastric Cancer Conference, Prof. Changqing Jing from Shandong Provincial Hospital summarized perioperative ICI trials in gastric cancer, discussing the status of ICIs in neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings and exploring the feasibility of future perioperative immunotherapy combinations.

Led by the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association (CACA), top oncology experts across various fields collaborated over a year to develop China’s first integrated oncology guideline, the CACA Integrated Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Guideline, which was published in 2022. As part of a national educational tour on the guideline, Dr. Ye Wei from Huadong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University recently shared insights with Oncology Frontier on the clinical impact of the CACA guideline for colorectal cancer (CRC).

From October 25 to 27, 2024, the 9th Academic Symposium of the International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association China Conference was held in Wuhan. The conference attracted more than 50 internationally renowned experts and scholars from over 20 countries including the United States, Germany, France, Russia, and Australia, as well as 21 academicians from the two academies and over 700 domestic experts in the field of hepato-pancreato-biliary. At this conference, Professor Eduard Jonas from the Groote Schuur Hospital, University of Cape Town, and President of the Europe-Africa Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (E-AHPBA), delivered a wonderful report titled "Transitioning from guidelines to personalized medicine in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma - a global perspective." we invited Professor Eduard Jonas for an in-depth interview to share fascinating insights on the personalized treatment of liver cancer with colleagues in the field.