Welcome Message

I am pleased to announce that the 81st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Cancer Association will be held at Pacifico Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan for three days, from September 29 (Thursday) to October 1 (Saturday), 2022. The meeting will be held with the COVID-19 pandemic as a backdrop, a pandemic that has people all over the world more concerned about health and diseases than ever. With that in mind, the mission of the Japanese Cancer Association is to overcome cancer by promoting basic and clinical research. Therefore, the theme of the 81st Annual Meeting is
“Tenaciously seeking out and establishing routes toward overcoming cancer” expressing our unwavering determination in overcoming cancer while in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that the upcoming Annual Meeting will address the public’s expectations in combating cancer.

Cancer has been the leading cause of death in Japan since 1981, and, currently, one half of Japanese suffer from and one third die of cancer. Comprehensive social and scientific strategies against cancer have led to a downward trend in the age-adjusted death most of cancers. Starting with the discovery of oncogenes in the 1980s, the significant advances in basic cancer research has led to remarkable progress in prevention, diagnosis and treatment, including molecular targeted therapy, cancer genomic medicine and cancer immune therapy. As a result, cancer has gone from an incurable to a curable disease. Furthermore, recent advances in information sciences and technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and next generation sequencing, as well as the development of platforms in cohort analysis, have revolutionized cancer research, diagnosis, and treatment. In fact, they have made personalized therapy against cancer a reality. Translational approaches between basic research and clinical application for developing novel diagnosis and treatment of cancer are also accelerating progress in recent years. On the other hand, we have encountered new types of cancer never seen before, such as those resistant to molecular targeted therapy or immune therapy, those associated with diabetes or chronic inflammation, and those associated with advanced age – cancer that patients may live with through their lifespan. To combat these new and known types of cancers, it is essential that the clinical and research teams share and reach goals through collaboration.

The 81st Annual Meeting will look for participants who are devoted to conquering cancer - from the basic and clinical researchers in academia or industry to a variety of specialists with interdisciplinary activities as well as others, including cancer survivors. The meeting will provide a valuable opportunity to exchange and share, not only the cutting-edge findings in cancer research and recent progress in cancer therapy such as genomic medicine and immune therapy, but also a wide range of the latest knowledge, findings, and activities for overcoming cancer. The goal of the meeting is to seek and provide the latest roads to overcoming cancer. At the same time, we hope the meetings will be organized in a manner that enlightens and encourages young and mid-career scientists, as they are the main players in these fields. In addition, new styles of collaboration and cooperation with international scientists will also be explored within the coronavirus pandemic and post-pandemic eras.

It is difficult to predict the status of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of the annual meeting. However, we anticipate meeting all of you at the meeting in Yokohama face-to-face. We very much look forward to your participation and highly appreciate your valuable contribution to the presentations and discussions at the meeting.