1st international Beatson symposium--cellular, molecular and clinical aspects of squamous cell carcinomas

About 80% of neoplasias are epithelial in origin and, as such, understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of epithelial tumours is vital to the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of the vast majority of human cancers. Obviously this is no easy task but, as outlined above, great efforts are being made to identify important molecules involved in the progression of normal epithelial cells to carcinoma. The development of techniques to identify new oncogenes is of particular importance, and hopefully the cDNA expression cloning system of Stuart Aaronson will be a useful tool in this respect. The potential of some of these molecules to be used as therapeutic targets will require the development of suitable screening procedures, such as that being established by Chris Marshall for the ras-Map kinase pathway in yeast. It is encouraging that the immune response to virally (HPV) induced cancer is being carefully elucidated and the prospects of vaccine development for the treatment of cervical cancer coming nearer since this particular form of SCC is a major cancer globally. Finally it was fitting to end the meeting on an optimistic note with John Mendelsohn's EGFR monoclonal antibody therapy entering clinical trials, and hopefully this will prove efficacious in the treatment of human SSC.