On June 29-July 1, the conference «Modern Treatment Strategies and Horizons in Hematology and Oncology» was held; the leading experts of MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, USA) shared their experience with hematologists from Russia, Kyrghizstan, Belarus, Armenia, Estonia and Germany.
MD Anderson Cancer Center carries out clinical trials in immuno-chemotherapeutic regimens on the cell lines, develops new approaches to cancer therapy and investigates new molecules generating ideas for cancer treatment.
The conference at this level was held in Russia for the first time. Hopefully, it will become the basis for future annual meetings. The event brought together about 300 experts from all over Russia: from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Kaliningrad.
The organizer from the USA side, the MD Anderson Center (Houston, USA), is affiliated with the University of Texas – one of the world's leading oncological institutions, the largest center for prospective drugs study, chemotherapeutic combinations and new approaches to therapy of tumors. In particular, one of the initiators of the conference was Professor Hagop Kantarjian, the Head of the MD Anderson Cancer Center and a well-known expert in acute leukemia and chronic myelogenous leukemia treatment,.
The organizer from the Russian side was the Almazov National Medical Research Centre. The Institute of Hematology of the Centre created in 2007 under the leadership of Professor Andrey Zaritsky, is involved in study of pathogenesis and new approaches to oncohematological diseases and translational research. The clinical base of the Research Institute is three hematology units with patients from all regions of the Russian Federation.
During the conference, famous foreign experts (H. Kantarjian, M. Keating, R. Hehlmann, J. Burger, T. Facon, E. Jabbour, M. Yu. Konopleva, L. Lehmann, M. Ohanian, etc.) shared their experience in the most common oncohematological diseases in adults and children. The extremely interesting talks covered new drugs and technologies studied by the Russian scientists.
Particular attention was paid to immunotherapeutic drugs (inhibitors of immunological “test points”) as well as hematopoietic stem cells transplantation (lectures by Prof. A. Bedikian, Prof. I. Khouri, Prof. N. Daver). Presentations by Prof. Sattva Neelapu, A. V. Karabelsky, and Prof. A. Yu. Zaritsky were dedicated to the use of autologous genetically modified T-lymphocytes in the therapy of lymphomas and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Prof. C. Bueso-Ramos and Prof. S.N. Konoplev talked about the importance of using the whole arsenal of modern technologies for diagnosis and monitoring of the leukemia therapy effectiveness. Prof. M. Andreeff shared new findings in biology of oncohematological diseases.
Among the Russian experts were Prof. I.V. Poddubnaya (Moscow), Prof. V.G. Savchenko (Moscow), Prof. B. V. Afanasyev (St. Petersburg), Prof. S.S. Bessmeltsev (St. Petersburg), Prof. A.I. Karachunsky (Moscow), Prof. L. P. Mendeleeva (Moscow), Prof. E.N. Parovichnikova (Moscow).
Within the Conference, a Memorandum of Understanding between Almazov National Medical Research Center and the MD Anderson Cancer Center was signed; it will facilitate future cooperation in training programmes, joint research projects and improving oncological care in the Russian Federation and the USA.
