ACCREDITATION STATEMENT
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education activities for physicians.
CREDIT DESIGNATION STATEMENT
The AACR has designated this live activity for a maximum of 17.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Credit certification for individual sessions may vary, dependent upon compliance with the ACCME Accreditation Criteria. The final number of credits may vary from the maximum number indicated above.
CLAIMING (CME) CREDIT
Physicians and other health care professionals seeking AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM for this live continuing medical education activity must complete the CME Request for Credit Survey by Monday, July 1, 2013. Certificates will only be issued to those who complete the survey. Your CME certificate will be sent to you by email after the completion of the activity.
STATEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL NEED, TARGET AUDIENCE AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Synthetic lethal interactions in model organisms such as yeast, Drosophila, and zebrafish have progressed the field of classical genetics by elucidating functional relationships between genes. Large-scale mapping of genetic interactions in yeast have provided a comprehensive and functional network of gene relationships. The development of a comprehensive synthetic lethal interaction network in human tumor and normal cells would be a tremendous resource in the cancer research community; ongoing studies and emerging technologies are making this goal more feasible. Insights into cancer biology and vulnerabilities within the network to exploit would aid in the development of targeted therapeutics to kill tumor cells in a personalized medicine approach.
A clinically relevant and most popular example of this potential is the synthetic lethal relationship of PARP inhibitors and tumor cells that are mutant for BRCA1 and/or BRCA2, namely in breast and ovarian tumors. Treatment of BRCA1 or BRCA2 deficient tumors with a PARP inhibitor has been successful and further research is providing more synthetic lethal partners of PARP (such as PTEN) in hopes of similar successful results.
The potential of synthetic lethal screens in human cells would aid in establishing synthetic lethal partners of interacting genes or with current cancer drugs. However, the cooperation of basic, translational and clinical researchers in handling the large amount of information will be essential in moving forward with this promising field. The potential is perhaps best summarized in the Hartwell and Friend paper which states, “Cancer cells have acquired molecular changes that distinguish them from their wild-type counterparts. Consequently, cancer cells have been 're-wired,' exposing new genetic vulnerabilities. Synthetic lethal interaction partners of cancer-associated molecular changes should therefore offer excellent therapeutic opportunities.”
This conference will be useful to basic, translational and clinical scientists, as well as physicians/practicing oncologists (medical, surgical, radiation) and those engaged in the development of new therapeutics.
After participating in this CME activity, physicians should be able to:
- Assess current genome scale synthetic lethal screens in various model organisms.
- Identify current cancer gene-related networks and therapeutic targets using systematic functional genomics (i.e. RNAi screens).
- Evaluate emerging technologies to screen for synthetic lethal partners in cancer research and the bioinformatics approaches utilized to handle the data.
- Explain how gene networks can exploit cancer cell vulnerabilities using current cancer drugs and address issues of drug resistance.
- Discuss current connections and applications to the clinic.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
It is the policy of the AACR that the information presented at AACR CME activities will be unbiased and based on scientific evidence. To help participants make judgments about the presence of bias, the AACR will provide information that Scientific Program Committee members and speakers have disclosed about financial relationships they have with commercial entities that produce or market products or services related to the content of this CME activity. This disclosure information will be made available in the Program/Proceedings of this conference.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF FINANCIAL OR OTHER SUPPORT
This activity is supported by grants and will be disclosed at the activity.
QUESTIONS ABOUT CME?
Please contact the Office of CME at (215) 440-9300 or cme@aacr.org.