Cancer Week highlights prevention and control
Shanghai is reporting 85,000 new cases of cancer each year.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death for local residents, with lung, colorectal and thyroid cancers the top three ones, health authorities said on Sunday.
It was the start of Shanghai's Cancer Prevention and Control Promotion Week.
Authorities are calling for more awareness and education, and promoting cancer screening and early detection, diagnosis and treatment to improve treatment outcomes and prolong patients' survival.
Currently, 40 percent of common cancers are able to be detected in the early stages and local patients' five-year survival is 58 percent, the highest in the nation.
Since 2013, Shanghai has staged community-based free colorectal cancer screening programs.
So far more than 90,000 people with pre-cancer changes and 25,000 cancer patients were detected in time thanks to the program.
This has raised patients' five-year survival to 85 percent, much higher than those detected in hospitals.
Medical experts provide health education on cancer prevention and control during the week-long event.
In addition to expanding health education and promoting cancer screening, local experts have been devoted in advanced scientific research to tackle the mystery of cancer.
In a recent research, experts from the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, found a new target for cancer immunotherapy.
This is expected to bring a new breakthrough to cancer treatment. It is published by world-leading journal Cell.
The research has been published by world-leading journal Cell.
The team led by Xu Jie found antibody CD3L1's crucial mechanism in tumor immune evasion, particularly in patients who respond poorly to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitory therapies.
PD-1/PD-L1 is currently the most widely used target for immunotherapy.
But there are many patients showing poor response to PD-1/PD-L1-targeted therapy, so the scientists are looking for another promising target.
Xu's team found the expression of CD3L1 exhibits several intriguing characteristics.
These include its mutual exclusivity with PD-L1 expression in most tumors, its prevalence in tumors resistant to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade, and enrichment in immune-privileged organs.
These features suggest alternative immune evasion pathways and highlight the role of CD3L1 in maintaining immune privilege.
Animal tests have effectively testified to the effects, and currently the CD3L1 antibody is in phase I clinical trial. This is after obtaining (IND) approval from US-based FDA and China's National Medical Products Administration.
International property rights at home and abroad have been applied for.
Patient recruitment:
Experts are recruiting participants for clinical trial. Both Chinese and expatriate patients are welcome.
Requirements for clinical trial: Patients of 18~75 years old, having any solid tumor in the advanced stage, not responding or can't tolerate standard therapies.
Benefits of clinical trial: All medical expense will be covered.
Insurance for all trial participants.
Contact: jie_xu@fudan.edu.cn (doctor's mail box for bilingual consultation)
