Event 1: 27.01.2022  | Video

Benefits and risks for screening: cancer as an exemplar

Cancer may soon become the leading cause of mortality in both Europe and North America. Treatment of late stage, disseminated cancers has had limited impact on cancer mortality. This Consilium Scientific Forum explores the risks and benefits of harnessing advances in DNA sequencing to detect genomic signatures in patients who are symptomless but who may carry signals predicting early stage or future malignancies where intervention may be effective. This approach to reducing mortality requires systemic changes in the health system and is not without many challenges, not least the risk of false positives, since with age, there is a normal accumulation of genomic damage that does not necessarily lead to cancer.

Dr Ewan Birney, a pioneer of genomic sequencing from the Sanger Centre, will  moderate a discussion of the risks and benefits and limitations of genomic screening (also applicable to other diseases) with Dr Saskia Sanderson, Chief Behavioural Scientist at Our Future Health, Professor of Cancer Prevention Peter Sasieni, Professor of Translational Cancer Genetics Clare Turnbull and Dr David Crosby who leads Cancer Research UK’s ambitious Road Map for the early detection and diagnosis of cancer.