Abstract 1831: Cancer genomic resources and needs in the Latin American region

Abstract In 2012, approximately 1,005,255 new cancer cases and 550,164 deaths from cancer occurred in both sexes in central and South American region, by 2025 and increment of nearly 30% of new cases and 35% of deaths from cancer are predicted. One of the priorities of cancer control within the region is to reduce avoidable deaths from cancer by improving early detection and personalized treatment. The development of cancer genomics and their integration to cancer care has shown a great improvement in cancer control worldwide; however, all these key advances have been mainly concentrated in highly developed nations and little is known about the capacities and needs of cancer genomics in the Latin-American (LA) context. In order to evaluate the capacity and development of cancer genomic applications in the LA we collected available information for all countries in central, South America and Cuba. Data reviewed included: number of cancer research institutions, number of NGS platforms, research groups working in cancer genetics, publications on cancer genetics for the last 10 years, educational programs on genomics and related health policies. In average 15 Research groups per country were registered as conducting cancer-genetics related projects. In the las 10 years, 206 publications on cancer genetics including reviews were led by (1st, 2nd or corresponding) authors affiliated to LA institutions and only publications in the last 2 years included cancer genomic analysis. Most publications related to breast, gastric and hematological cancers were underrepresented in general. In the past 5 years physical resources have grown markedly by the acquisition of nearly 150 NGS platforms in 9 countries, the majority installed in medical related services and universities. Participation in large genomic consortia has only included two countries Mexico (as partner) and Brazil (as leading). Educational programs in genomics are scarce, almost exclusive of graduate programs and few are applied to cancer. Despite the recent advances in introducing cancer genomics knowledge and application in LA, the region lacks development of integrated genomic research projects, improved use of platforms dedicated to cancer, educational programs and health policies that focus on the most frequent cancers and could impact cancer care. Citation Format: Javier Oliver, Sandra Perdomo, Felipe Vaca. Cancer genomic resources and needs in the Latin American region. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1831.