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World Cancer Report: Cancer Research for Cancer Prevention

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Questions and answers, download pdf, what is the iarc world cancer report .

The new IARC World Cancer Report is the product of a collaboration between leading international scientists that describes multiple aspects of cancer research for cancer prevention. Starting with the latest trends in cancer incidence and mortality worldwide, this publication provides wide-ranging insights into cancer prevention based on the known causes of cancer, factors that determine how cancer develops, and the behaviour of different tumour types, and presents a broad scope of interventions to reduce the cancer burden from a global perspective. The scientific disciplines covered include descriptive epidemiology (the distribution of disease, and specifically cancer, within particular populations), cancer etiology (including infections, chemicals, radiation, metabolism and nutrition, and genetic factors), cellular and molecular biology, toxicology and pathology, behavioural and social sciences, public health, biostatistics, and informatics. Wild CP, Weiderpass E, Stewart BW, editors (2020). World Cancer Report: Cancer Research for Cancer Prevention. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer. Available from: http://publications.iarc.fr/586 .

Who is this publication for?

World Cancer Report: Cancer Research for Cancer Prevention features the latest research from across multiple disciplines. It is aimed primarily at cancer researchers, academia, health professionals, and policy-makers, but this expert report remains accessible to a wider audience, including the general public, civil society, and the private sector.

What is the objective of the report?

The IARC World Cancer Report is the most comprehensive overview of relevant research yet available. This latest publication is part of a well-established series . Produced about every 5 years, World Cancer Report provides the latest evidence on cancer prevention and serves as an authoritative reference in the cancer research community. The volume editors of this new World Cancer Report are IARC Director Dr Elisabete Weiderpass, former IARC Director Dr Christopher P. Wild , and Professor Bernard W. Stewart of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

What does the latest World Cancer Report include?

Based on how cancer is distributed worldwide, and differences between and within particular countries, this new assessment offers a comprehensive overview of the global cancer burden as a starting point for documenting all known options for cancer prevention through the latest research. The publication documents the causes of cancer, discussing infectious agents, alcohol consumption, metabolism and nutrition, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and obesity as well as dietary carcinogens, occupational exposure, and the contamination of air, water, and soil, among other topics. The biological processes that affect cancer development are also presented, with a focus on sporadic cancer, genomics and susceptibility, gene–environment interactions, and DNA repair, as well as inflammation and its pivotal role in cancer pathogenesis, to name but a few. A full section is devoted to multiple chapters on the inequalities that affect the distribution of cancer within communities, clearly illustrating that in both high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries, there are groups of people in every community who are at a major disadvantage with respect to risk of cancer. Options for prevention include avoiding exposure to carcinogens, for example by smoking cessation, as well as vaccination, screening, monitoring those at high genetic risk, using therapeutics to reduce cancer risk, and emerging molecular technology for early diagnosis.

What’s new in this World Cancer Report ?

The impact of cancer on the global community can now be defined with greater precision than ever before. The causes of cancer are now better understood in terms of both the precise biological changes induced by causative agents and the characteristics of exposed people who prove to be susceptible to cancer development. This is the broad background against which both biological and sociological variables determine the distribution of cancer and, in many instances, its potential prevention. Factors determining cancer development and prevention The causes of cancer vary markedly in their character and impact. Cancer is just one of the diseases caused by tobacco smoking, but lung cancer and other cancer types caused by smoking are among the most lethal of such diseases. Millions of people are infected with human papillomavirus (HPV), Helicobacter pylori , or hepatitis B virus or hepatitis C virus, and are thus at risk of developing cervical cancer, stomach cancer, and liver cancer, respectively. Complex biological processes, including DNA repair, the occurrence of overweight or obesity, and the consequences of inflammation, are crucial determinants of cancer development. These processes are delineated in the new World Cancer Report . Although much is known about cancer causation, for many tumour types few, if any, relevant carcinogens have been identified. This applies to, for example, brain cancer and prostate cancer. For lung cancer, a broad spectrum of causes are known, beginning with active smoking and extending to second-hand smoke, certain occupations, and atmospheric pollution. Despite this, some individual cases of lung cancer have no evident cause. Such tumours, along with most cases of brain cancer and prostate cancer, are often described as sporadic. Another exciting first for the new World Cancer Report is a discussion of sporadic cancer and the biological principles that are thought to underpin the development of such cancer. Biological processes are common to all people, but the distribution of cancer in all countries is subject to socioeconomic differences. For the first time, inequalities as a determinant of cancer incidence and mortality are specifically addressed in a separate section of the new World Cancer Report . Previous World Cancer Reports described the disproportionately increasing burden of cancer in low- and middle-income countries, and this trend clearly persists. However, in all countries, irrespective of income grouping, sections of the communities are disadvantaged both in relation to circumstances of risk and with respect to prevention and treatment services. In the new World Cancer Report , separate chapters evaluate inequalities that affect cancer incidence in Africa, China, Europe, India, and the USA. Increasing options for cancer prevention Cancer prevention is often identified with community campaigns, such as those to promote smoking avoidance or cessation, to ensure that exposure to asbestos does not occur in the workplace and elsewhere, to prevent particular infections, and, particularly for fair-skinned people, to avoid deliberate sun exposure without sun protection. All these ways of preventing cancer remain relevant; they are proven to reduce cancer incidence, and research continues to demonstrate their efficacy. However, cancer prevention involves a far greater range of initiatives than avoiding exposure to known carcinogens. Perhaps the most effective means of cancer prevention, and one that has the prospect of eliminating one tumour type completely, is vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV), which is the cause of cervical cancer. Vaccination against hepatitis B and C viruses also has a proven impact on the incidence of liver cancer in certain communities. The single greatest challenge to cancer prevention identified in the new World Cancer Report is overweight or obesity. Although the prevalence of overweight or obesity is readily identified with populations in high-income countries, this condition is now evident in many regions of the world. Multiple tumour types, including colorectal cancer and breast cancer, are attributable, at least in part, to overweight or obesity. The biological mechanisms by which overweight or obesity increases the risk of various tumour types are not yet fully explained. Altering community behaviour to reduce the prevalence of overweight or obesity is recognized as a means of preventing not only certain types of cancer but also other chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. For sporadic cancers in different organs (i.e. cancers for which no recognized exposure accounts for tumour development), options for prevention are emerging and are being evaluated by researchers. For multiple tumour types, World Cancer Report discusses population-based screening for detection of cancer at an early stage or of preconditions leading to cancer development. One chapter describes early diagnosis on the basis of tumour DNA detected in blood, and another describes how individual susceptibility to tumorigenesis may be determined using genomic data.

What is the difference between the WHO Report on Cancer and the IARC World Cancer Report ?

In May 2017, the cancer resolution ( WHA70.12 ) adopted at the Seventieth World Health Assembly requested WHO, in collaboration with IARC, to produce a comprehensive global report providing evidence-based public health- and policy-oriented guidance on cancer for WHO Member States. The outcome of this charge is the WHO Report on Cancer: Setting priorities, investing wisely and providing care for all . The WHO report complements the IARC World Cancer Report by synthesizing evidence to translate the latest knowledge into actionable policies to support governments to prevent and control cancer globally. These two complementary publications, launched jointly by WHO and IARC, will each contribute to an increased awareness, both professionally and in the wider community, of the lives affected by cancer, and what may be done, is being done, and should be done to decrease the impact of this disease.

What are the key messages in the IARC World Cancer Report ?

Cancer is the second most common cause of death worldwide, and the burden of cancer is increasing in all countries. This poses a rapidly growing threat to individuals, health systems, and economies globally. Countries must accelerate their multisectoral, evidence-based, and resource-appropriate responses now to avoid 7 million cancer deaths over the next decade. The cancer burden is predicted to nearly double over the next decade in low- and middle-income countries. If no additional action is taken, there will be millions of additional premature deaths from cancer over the next decade, and we will fail to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals target (Target 3.4) to reduce the total premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases, including cancer, by one third by 2030. The global cancer burden is expected to reach 29 million new cancer cases per year by 2040, a 62% increase on the estimated 18.1 million cancers in 2018. The increases in the cancer incidence burden will affect all countries, but the predicted increases will be proportionately greatest in low-income countries, due to known infectious agents, chemicals including tobacco, and obesity. World Cancer Report documents how the cancer burden continues to grow and emphasizes the need for urgent implementation of efficient prevention strategies to curb the disease. For cervical cancer, lung cancer, and most other cancer types, the relative incidence is greatest among those at socioeconomic disadvantage, particularly including ethnic and racial minorities and Indigenous populations. Cancer inequalities reflect the cultures and environments in which people are born, live, and work and the uneven application of preventive measures, both between and within countries. Vaccination and screening are effective for some cancer types but are differentially available. Most genomic data are from studies in individuals of European ancestry. In the future, the characterization of individual susceptibility to cancer and the closer identification of those at risk will enable precision cancer prevention.

Dr Elisabete Weiderpass, IARC Director, presents World Cancer Report: Cancer Research for Cancer Prevention

Professor bernard stewart presents world cancer report: cancer research for cancer prevention.

Published in section: Featured News

Publication date: 4 February, 2020, 6:50

Direct link: https://www.iarc.who.int/featured-news/new-world-cancer-report/

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Each year, several different reports are released by government health agencies and nonprofit groups that provide information on important cancer trends in the United States.

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• The Annual Report to the Nation , produced since 1998, provides a yearly update of U.S. cancer incidence (new cases) and mortality (death) rates, and trends in these rates. Each report also includes a special section on an important cancer topic or trend. The report—issued by NCI, the American Cancer Society (ACS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR)—incorporates data from several sources, including NCI's  Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program, the CDC National Program of Cancer Registries, the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), and NAACCR.
• NCI’s Cancer Trends Progress Report measures progress in prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, life after cancer, and end of life in relation to  Healthy People 2030 targets set by the Department of Health and Human Services. Measures for this report are selected based on scientific evidence and the availability of national—rather than state or local—data collection and analysis. Data for this report are obtained from a wide range of systems and surveys with different collection techniques and reporting times.
• Cancer Facts and Figures is an annual ACS publication that estimates the number of new cancer cases and deaths for the coming year in an effort to provide insights into the contemporary cancer burden. The report relies on data from NAACCR, SEER, and the National Center for Health Statistics.
• CDC’s Invasive Cancer Incidence and Survival focuses on estimates of U.S. cancer incidence and 5-year survival. The report includes incidence and survival data from CDC's National Program of Cancer Registries, SEER, and NVSS.

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Identification of Biomarkers for Endometrial Cancer Shows Promise for Faster and Less Invasive Diagnosis

Thomas Kelly

Endometrial cancer is the most common form of cancer of the female reproductive organs; and unlike most other cancers that are decreasing, its incidence rates have continued to grow by a rate of 1% per year for White women and 2–3% for women of all other racial/ethnic groups, according to the American Cancer Society.

Currently, the gold standard for diagnosis is an endometrial biopsy — a form of surgery without the use of a local anesthetic where tissue is removed from the patient for further testing. Though accurate, it is an inconvenient procedure that can be quite painful for the patient.

The barriers to this type of procedure extend beyond the pain and the anxiety it can cause. Access to it is often less available for women without health care and for those who live in rural areas of the state because it needs to be done in a specialized setting. For women who have suffered prior sexual trauma or have other health issues, it may require an operating room.

Those obstacles are “amplified within our underrepresented, understudied, minoritized populations of women — specifically here in Arizona, where Native American women and Latinas have the highest rates of endometrial cancer,” said Melissa Herbst-Kralovetz, PhD — a professor of Basic Medical Sciences and Obstetrics and Gynecology , as well as director of the Women’s Health Research Program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, and a researcher with the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the UArizona Cancer Center (UACC) .

Fortunately, recently published research by Dr. Herbst-Kralovetz and a highly collaborative team of UACC biostatisticians, Banner Health surgeons, gynecologic oncologists, and basic scientists demonstrated potential for a more accessible and less invasive diagnostic procedure for endometrial cancer.

Collecting samples via gentle cervicovaginal lavage from more than 190 women with endometrial cancer and non-malignant conditions, the researchers performed global untargeted metabolomics. The data they collected was then used for a multivariate biomarker discovery analysis.

The aims of the study were twofold: To identify potential biomarkers within the cervicovaginal lavages that could be used for detection of endometrial cancer and to further investigate the disruption cancer causes in the local microenvironment. “Dysregulation in metabolism is one of the hallmarks of cancer. We wanted to learn more about the pathophysiology of endometrial cancer using the sampling technique,” Dr. Herbst-Kralovetz said.

The results were more than promising. The metabolic dysregulation they discovered linked specific metabolites and pathophysiological mechanisms — including cellular proliferation, energy supply and invasion of neighboring tissues.

More promising, their research method was able to detect metabolite levels related to the overall severity the endometrial cancer presents to the patient — as in, the size and grade of the tumor. “These tumor characteristics could be used as a prognostic tool,” she said. Without surgery, “We could do this non-invasive sampling and then predict what the tumor size is, if there’s myometrial invasion, etc. That’s really important for patient risk stratification as you move forward for treatment.”

The research team’s hope is that the biomarkers will not only improve the acceptability and accessibility of diagnosis but potentially allow a patient to collect the samples themselves. These factors could lead to earlier detection of endometrial cancer.

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A chemical linked to a higher risk of leukemia and other blood cell cancers creeps into millions of homes whenever residents light their gas stoves. A new Stanford-led analysis finds that a single gas cooktop burner on high or a gas oven set to 350 degrees Fahrenheit can raise indoor levels of the carcinogen benzene above those in secondhand tobacco smoke. Benzene also drifts throughout a home and lingers for hours in home air, according to the paper published June 15 in Environmental Science & Technology .

Go to the web site to view the video.

A Stanford-led analysis finds that a single gas cooktop burner on high or a gas oven set to 350 F can raise indoor levels of the carcinogen benzene above those in secondhand tobacco smoke.

“Benzene forms in flames and other high-temperature environments, such as the flares found in oil fields and refineries. We now know that benzene also forms in the flames of gas stoves in our homes,” said study senior author Rob Jackson , the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Provostial Professor and professor of Earth system science at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability . “Good ventilation helps reduce pollutant concentrations, but we found that exhaust fans were often ineffective at eliminating benzene exposure.”

Worse than secondhand smoke

Overall, the researchers found that indoor concentrations of benzene formed in the flames of gas stoves can be worse than average concentrations from secondhand smoke, that benzene can migrate into other rooms far from the kitchen, and that concentrations measured in bedrooms can exceed national and international health benchmarks. They also found residential range hoods are not always effective at reducing concentrations of benzene and other pollutants, even when the hoods vent outdoors.

The new paper is the first to analyze benzene emissions when a stove or oven is in use. Previous studies focused on leaks from stoves when they are off, and did not directly measure resulting benzene concentrations. The researchers found gas and propane burners and ovens emitted 10 to 50 times more benzene than electric stoves. Induction cooktops emitted no detectable benzene whatsoever. The rates of benzene emitted during combustion were hundreds of times higher than benzene emission rates identified in other recent studies from unburned gas leaking into homes.

The researchers also tested whether foods being cooked emit benzene and found zero benzene emissions from pan-frying salmon or bacon. All benzene emissions the investigators measured came from the fuel used rather than any food cooked.

A previous Stanford-led study showed that gas-burning stoves inside U.S. homes leak methane with a climate impact comparable to the carbon dioxide emissions from about 500,000 gasoline-powered cars. They also expose users to pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide, which can trigger respiratory diseases. A 2013 meta-analysis concluded that children who live in homes with gas stoves had a 42% greater risk of asthma than children living in homes without gas stoves, and a 2022 analysis calculated that 12.7% of childhood asthma in the U.S. is attributable to gas stoves .

“I’m renting an apartment that happens to have an electric stove,” said study lead Yannai Kashtan , a graduate student in Earth system science. “Before starting this research, I never thought about it twice, but the more we learn about pollution from gas stoves, the more relieved I am to be living without a gas stove.”

Jackson is also a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Precourt Institute for Energy . Study co-authors also include Metta Nicholson and Colin Finnegan , environmental science research professionals in Stanford’s Earth System Science Department; Zutao Ouyang , a physical science research associate in Stanford’s Earth System Science Department; and researchers at PSE Healthy Energy, the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

The study was funded by the High Tide Foundation.

To read all stories about Stanford science, subscribe to the biweekly   Stanford Science Digest .

Media Contacts

Rob Jackson, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability: (650) 497-5841, [email protected]

Yannai Kashtan, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability: (510) 866-3232, [email protected]

Rob Jordan, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment: (650) 721-1881, [email protected]

Most younger women who want kids after breast cancer are successful, research data shows

About two-thirds of the women in the study had a baby after diagnosis.

Among younger women with breast cancer, it may be possible for many to have a baby after their diagnosis thanks to advances in breast cancer care, new research suggests.

In a study of about 200 women ages 40 and younger with non-metastatic breast cancer who wanted children, roughly three-quarters were able to become pregnant after diagnosis, and about two-thirds had a baby.

The research will be presented on Monday, June 3, at the 2024 ASCO Annual Conference, a major medical conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. However, it has not yet been peer-reviewed or published as a full manuscript in a journal.

MORE: Major disparities exist in women of color's access to breast cancer care, report finds

Doctors say this may give hope to the growing number of younger people being diagnosed with breast cancer who want to preserve their fertility.

"This is indeed great news for young breast cancer survivors," Dr. Julie R. Gralow, Chief Medical Officer of ASCO and oncologist who specializes in breast cancer, told ABC News. "Achieving a pregnancy after breast cancer diagnosis is both possible and safe."

For women diagnosed at earlier ages, fertility may be of great concern and importance, but experts point out that in this study, only 16% of women said they desired a baby after their diagnosis.

"I think this may represent the overall reluctance of young women with this diagnosis interrupting their lives at such a young age to pursue pregnancy," Dr. Julia Foldi, assistant professor of medicine in hematology/oncology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told ABC News.

In the study, women with more financial security were more likely to become pregnant, and fertility preservation, such as egg freezing, nearly tripled the odds of having a baby. The older the patient, the less likelihood of having a baby or getting pregnant.

"While we can't impact the age at diagnosis, we can make sure that all young women diagnosed with breast cancer receive information prior to beginning treatment about options to increase the chance of a future pregnancy, and also have access to those options," Gralow said.

Doctors hope this research helps counsel women who desire pregnancy after their breast cancer diagnosis and highlights the importance of having access to fertility preservation services, which can be costly.

"Timely access to fertility preservation can be very challenging due to lack of available resources and infrastructure, financial barriers, and much more," Dr. Kimia Sorouri, research fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, and one of the study authors told ABC News.

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"Ensuring that women have the resources necessary to enable them to benefit from this technology, including insurance coverage for fertility preservation, will go a long way towards ensuring access to care for those women who have yet to complete their reproductive plan," Dr. Sigal Klipstein, InVia Fertility Specialists in Chicago and former chair of the ACOG Committee on Ethics, told ABC News.

MORE: Finalized guidance drops breast cancer screening age to 40 for women with average risk

Researchers also found several factors that were not associated with fertility outcomes in this study, including having a history of infertility, never giving birth before diagnosis, tumor characteristics, cancer treatment, race, and ethnicity.

"It is particularly impressive data because almost 70% of the women in this study had received chemotherapy, which can reduce fertility," Gralow said.

In this study, the typical age at the time of breast cancer diagnosis was 32 years old, and the average time to pregnancy was 4 years after diagnosis. Most of the women in this study were non-Hispanic white and had their breast cancer diagnosed in earlier stages of the disease.

"This should encourage folks to get their screening done and know that if they are diagnosed earlier on, that's less likely to impact their future fertility goals," Dr. Elizabeth Langen, associate clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology, University of Michigan Health System, told ABC News.

In guidance by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, women with average risk are now recommended to start breast cancer screening at age 40.

This finalized guidance, in part, reflects a worrying trend of more women being diagnosed with breast cancer at a younger age.

"While this study provides great hope for women with a diagnosis of breast cancer, it is important to be cognizant of the fact that not all women will have success," Klipstein said. "Expeditious counseling, availability of and access to fertility preservation options are the elements that often make the difference between having or not having the family that women desire."

Dr. Jade A Cobern, MD, MPH, a licensed and practicing physician board certified in pediatrics and preventive medicine, is a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.

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Cancer Research Catalyst The Official Blog of the American Association for Cancer Research

Home > Cancer Research Catalyst > Publicly Available Databases: Closing the Gap in Cancer Health Disparities Research 

Publicly Available Databases: Closing the Gap in Cancer Health Disparities Research 

Cancer health disparities are driven by the compounding of multiple factors, including gaps in research resulting from insufficient representation of racial and ethnic minorities in clinical, genomic, and population studies.  

Because of this lack of diversity, results are not always applicable to all patients, and potential disease drivers can be missed. 

Large, publicly available databases provide a source of more diverse and comprehensive data and can be leveraged to extend the applicability of research findings, uncover biologic and socioeconomic aspects that contribute to disproportionate cancer burden in some populations, and expand the potential of precision medicine. 

A session at the 15th AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved discussed some of these databases and the research they are enabling. 

National Cancer Database 

The National Cancer Database (NCDB) , jointly sponsored by the American College of Surgeons and the American Cancer Society, is a clinical oncology database of data sourced from hospital registries. Ryan McCabe, PhD, NCDB senior manager from the American College of Surgeons, described it as the preeminent multidisciplinary national clinical cancer registry. 

Launched in 1989, the NCDB captures data from 1,500 Commission on Cancer -accredited hospitals, corresponding to about 26 percent of the hospitals in the U.S., and comprises approximately 72 percent of all newly diagnosed cancer cases in the country every year, covering 80 disease sites. 

The database includes information on tumor characteristics—such as site-specific markers, disease staging, and first course of treatment—and outcomes, collecting all-cause mortality for 15 years after diagnosis.  

As McCabe explained, NCDB’s primary focus is on quality measures to support improvement in cancer care. “We have algorithms that we build that process the data and then label the data as being compliant or noncompliant with a number of quality measures, and then we provide that data back to the hospitals.” 

These data are accessible to clinician-investigators at Commission on Cancer-accredited hospitals. “Every year, we distribute about 1,000 files, and, since 2009, the data that we distributed has resulted in over 1,500 publications,” said McCabe. “It is a very big program that is creating a lot of information out there.” 

The NCDB also maintains web-based applications to promote access by researchers, clinicians, and the general public. 

The NCDB represents a significant resource for cancer health disparities research, with information on race, insurance status, distance from patient address to treating hospital, and average income and educational level for each ZIP code. 

McCabe pointed out that the NCDB data are being used to address many questions related to cancer disparities research. For example, a study found that the expansion of Medicaid resulted in a shift to early-stage cancer at diagnosis and reducing certain disparities in young adult patients. Another study uncovered substantial racial disparities in the use of proton beam therapy. 

All of Us Research Program 

The All of Us Research Program is an initiative of the National Institutes of Health that intends to recruit more than 1 million participants across the U.S. to build one of the most diverse health databases in history.  

The Program is now in its fifth year. As its chief engagement officer Karriem S. Watson, DHSc, MS, MPH, pointed out, 80 percent of the 523,000 people enrolled so far come from groups underrepresented in biomedical research, and 45 percent self-identified as belonging to racial and ethnic minorities. 

The All of Us database has three levels of access. According to Watson, the “public tier” access, available to anyone with internet access, is critical because it allows participants to see firsthand how the information they volunteered is used by researchers, and what type of research questions are being asked. 

The “registered-tier” access, available to approved researchers, includes deidentified data from electronic health records, wearable devices, surveys, and physical measurements taken at the time of participant enrollment. 

Lastly, in addition to the data present in the registered tier, the “controlled tier” dataset contains genomic data from whole genome sequencing and genotyping arrays, expanded demographic data, and it will soon provide ZIP code data. 

Currently, the All of Us database includes about 42,000 individuals with a cancer diagnosis, representing approximately 18 percent of all participants.  

Watson reported that there are 162 active research projects focused on cancer using the All of Us dataset and investigating areas such as the impact of nutrition and physical fitness on prostate cancer, the social determinants of colorectal cancer, the utility of data on breast cancer genomic variants in predicting cancer risk, and the differences in the prevalence of cancer between people with and without a family history of cancer.  

He highlighted some examples of published studies that used All of Us data to analyze factors that impact health care utilization among cancer survivors ; examine the current landscape of precision medicine for cancer patients; and study lung cancer risk factors .  

A priority of the All of Us Project is ensuring data access to investigators at all levels and from all backgrounds. The project is partnering with Historically Black Colleges and Universities to provide training in the use of the dataset and working with the University of Utah to develop an All of Us data curriculum for high school to ensure that teachers introduce students from all backgrounds to the importance of data analysis and genomics.  

The All of Us Project represents the NIH’s foray into the field of liberation data science, which is based on inclusion, cooperation, and data sharing between researchers and the communities impacted by health disparities, Watson explained.  

AACR Project GENIE

AACR Project GENIE is an international pan-cancer registry of real-world data. “We are driven by openness, transparency, and inclusion,” said Jocelyn Lee, PhD, associate director for Project GENIE. “The ultimate goal and the foundation of GENIE is to link clinical sequencing data to clinical outcomes from the patients that are seen and treated at our participating institutions.” 

Launched in 2015, Project GENIE has had 12 public data releases, and contains more than 150,000 sequenced tumors from about 130,000 patients and 110 major cancer types. Data are contributed by 19 leading cancer centers in North America and Europe.  

So far, Project GENIE has had 11 publications and more than 700 citations, has completed five sponsored studies in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies, and has contributed to one regulatory filing.  

The registry includes approximately 5,000 pediatric patients and 9,000 young adult patients. As Lee explained, most of the cancers within the registry are lung, breast, and colorectal cancers, but given the large number of samples, it also provides data for research on rare cancers.  

About a third of the data in the registry comes from non-white patients (more than 43,000). “In terms of our absolute numbers, Project GENIE is probably one of the most diverse datasets that are currently available,” said Lee. 

Different initiatives are underway to enhance the registry to catalyze health equity research, including an open call to recruit new participating institutions that treat and sequence underrepresented populations, and a pilot project using ZIP code and other proxies to surface social determinants of health variables related to the data already present in the database. 

Lee discussed how data in the Project GENIE registry have been used so far to focus on diversity. For example, a study presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2021 found that Black patients with early-onset colorectal cancer had significantly higher tumor mutation burden than white patients, providing evidence that the molecular features of this disease may differ by race. This study and additional research on cancer disparities powered by Project GENIE were reviewed in an earlier blog post .   

Another study used Project GENIE data to analyze the racial differences in tumor genomic profiles of prostate cancer and reported that Black patients with metastatic prostate cancer were more likely to carry mutations in the androgen receptor gene and in DNA repair genes than white or Asian patients. 

Research published in the AACR journal Cancer Discovery revealed an association between Native American genetic ancestry and lung cancer molecular alterations. The investigators developed an algorithm to identify ancestry and detect associated molecular changes, and are now working with Project GENIE to understand the influence of ancestry-associated genes on patient outcomes.  

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IU’s cloud computing resource receives $4.9M to expand AI access for research

Jetsteam2 awarded supplemental NSF grant to join National AI Research Resource Pilot

Indiana University’s Jetsteam2 cloud computing resource will be one of the first of the National Science Foundation’s advanced computing platforms to support projects enabled by the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot program .

As part of this program, the Jetstream2 project will receive nearly $4.9 million to expand the resource. The grant, which was awarded as a supplement to IU’s Jetstream2 funding , brings the total award value for the project to nearly $29.4 million.

The NAIRR Pilot program — the result of President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on the Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of AI — aims to provide AI researchers and students access to key AI resources and data. The first 35 projects of the NAIRR Pilot program will be supported with computational time and mark a significant milestone in fostering responsible AI research across the nation.

“The NAIRR Pilot, fueled by the need to advance responsible AI research and broaden access to cutting-edge resources needed for AI research, symbolizes a firm stride towards democratizing access to vital AI tools across the talented communities in all corners of our country,” NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said. “While this is only the first step in our NAIRR efforts, we plan to rapidly expand our partnerships and secure the level of investments needed to realize the NAIRR vision and unlock the full potential of AI for the benefit of humanity and society.”

David Hancock, director of advanced cyberinfrastructure at IU, said this pilot program presents a unique opportunity to gain new experiences with researchers and create lasting relationships.

“We all benefit and learn from this kind of experience,” he said. “We hope to provide meaningful resources that positively impact researchers and educators, highlighting the scientific and educational uses of AI and supercomputers down the road.”

Since 2016, the Jetstream system has given thousands of U.S. researchers access to a powerful cloud-based environment that complements other NSF systems — all from a laptop or tablet — allowing them to explore and understand immense amounts of data. Supporting computation, experimentation and teaching, Jetstream has benefited researchers from a wide range of fields by focusing on usability and support.

The Jetstream2 project is led by Research Technologies, a division of University Information Technology Services and a center in the Pervasive Technology Institute at IU.

Jetstream2’s primary cloud is at IU Bloomington, with regional clouds at Arizona State University, the Cornell University Center for Advanced Computing, University of Hawaiʻi and the Texas Advanced Computing Center in Austin, Texas. Jetstream2 also has partnerships with the University of Arizona, Johns Hopkins University and University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

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