1st Asia-Pacific Gastric Cancer Conference

20 Nov 2006

By Prof K Satku, Director of Medical Services, MOH

Venue: Clinical Research Centre Auditorium, National University of Singapore

Mr Joe Sim, Acting Chief Executive Officer, NUH;

Associate Professor Benjamin Ong, Chairman, Medical Board, NUH;

Professor Lee Chuen Neng, Head, Surgery, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS and Chief, Surgery, NUH;

Dr Jimmy So, Chairman of the Organising Committee;

Distinguished Guests;

Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen

It gives me great pleasure to join you this morning at the opening of the 1st Asia Pacific Gastric Cancer Conference. I would like to begin by extending a warm welcome to our overseas delegates and faculty. I would also like to thank the members of the overseas faculty for taking time from their busy schedule, to share their expertise with us.

Gastric Cancer Worldwide

Gastric cancer is a major worldwide problem in both developing and developed countries. It contributes significantly to the economic burden and mortality in many countries. Almost one million deaths from gastric cancer occur every year, making it the second leading cause of cancer death in the world.

The incidence of this cancer is decreasing worldwide. The reasons for this are not clear. Some possibilities are better food hygiene with less Helicobacter pylori infection, or the advent of refrigeration leading to consumption of more fresh food and less salt-preserved food.

Despite this, owing to the growth and ageing of the world's population, the absolute number of deaths from gastric cancer is expected to increase significantly over the next few decades.

Gastric Cancer in Singapore

In Singapore, gastric cancer is one of the more common cancers. It is the fourth most common cancer in males, and the sixth most common cancer among females. About one in fifty men or 2% are afflicted by gastric cancer in their lifetime and women have half the risk. This is higher than that in the United States, which has a 1% lifetime risk in males; and higher than most other Western countries.

Gastric cancer is also the fourth most common cause of cancer deaths in Singapore in both men and women. The cancer affects predominantly the Chinese in Singapore.

Research on Gastric Cancer

Gastric cancer rates in Asia are still amongst the highest in the world and it is therefore appropriate that we take a leading role in research to help understand the genesis of the disease, how to detect it, and to develop effective prevention and treatment strategies. Indeed, much research has been carried out and is ongoing within Singapore in these areas.

Our National Medical Research Council has to date committed over $2.6 million in funding for gastric cancer related research.

This includes studies on putative gastric cancer stem cells and research on mapping the gastric cancer proteome to identify biomarkers and possible therapeutic targets, to name just a couple of projects. In particular, the Biomedical Research Council which also funds and coordinates developments in cancer research has identified gastric cancer as a key research focus for us and the Singapore Gastric Cancer Consortium has been formed to serve as a platform for collaborative translational research across Singapore.

Members of the consortium include clinicians and researchers, involved in gastric cancer research, from all major hospitals and research institutions in Singapore. Through their research, the consortium hopes to improve biologic understanding of gastric cancer and this in turn should contribute to better methods of early detection and treatment of the disease.

One example of such research is the establishment of a Gastric Cancer Epidemiology, Clinical and Genetics Programme, or GCEP, for population-based studies to identify clinical, serologic, pathological and genetic markers which can be used to define an optimal approach to gastric cancer screening.

The GCEP study aims to identify people who are at high-risk of gastric cancer and conduct regular screening for them in order to detect cancer at an early stage, when it can be cured.

Additionally biomarkers will be identified and studied in 2000 patients over a period of five years. With this information, diagnostic kits to detect early cancer and a cost-effective screening strategy for gastric cancer will be developed.

The Asia-Pacific Gastric Cancer Conference in Singapore

Because we recognise the importance of collaboration and coordination between all researchers in the field, Singapore is actively involved in various international collaborative efforts like the International Gastric Cancer Association and in particular the International Cancer Biomarker Consortium. This consortium aims to coordinate efforts from various countries in cancer biomarker discovery. 

We are happy to show our commitment to such collaboration by hosting today's conference, the 1st Asia Pacific Gastric Cancer Conference, which brings together researchers and clinicians from the Asia-Pacific region to exchange experiences and ideas in the management of this global disease. I hope this conference will be, only the first of many such gatherings and that it will help promote effective collaboration between renowned as well as new medical centres across our countries.

Conclusion

Finally I would like to congratulate Dr. Jimmy So and the organising committee for having taken the initiative to organise this 1st Asia Pacific Gastric Cancer Conference and for putting together an impressive programme. You have started the journey to resolve the predicament of gastric cancers on the right footing. On this note I would like to wish all, fruitful deliberations over the next two days. Thank you and have a pleasant day ahead.