Abstract
The Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium (BTEC) is an international consortium that aims to advance development of multicenter and interdisciplinary collaborations that focus on research related to the etiology, outcomes, and prevention of brain tumors. The 17th annual BTEC meeting was held in Barcelona, Spain on June 21 – 23, 2016. The meeting focused on immune and viral factors that influence brain tumor development. Fundamentals of innate and adaptive immunity were reviewed, the role of immune checkpoint inhibitors in primary and secondary brain tumors was addressed, vaccination strategies for glioma treatment were presented, and the potential contribution of immune dysfunction and viruses tropic for glial cells in gliomagenesis was discussed. Further contributions addressed the risk of non-ionizing radiation, molecular and birth characteristics on brain tumor induction/outcomes, and patterns of care and effects of different treatments on brain tumor survival in the real world setting. The next BTEC meeting will be held in June 2017 in Banff, Canada, and will focus on brain tumor epidemiology in the era of precision medicine.
Highlights
The Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium (BTEC) is an open scientific forum that fosters the development of collaborations between brain tumor researchers that will lead to a better understanding of the etiology, outcomes, and prevention of brain tumors
The Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium (BTEC) is an international consortium that aims to advance development of multicenter and interdisciplinary collaborations that focus on research related to the etiology, outcomes, and prevention of brain tumors
Founded in 2003 after an initial meeting sponsored by the US National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) and the US National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Office of Rare Diseases (ORD), the BTEC has evolved to become a self-directed consortium with working groups focused on epidemiological evaluation of adult glioma, meningioma, pediatric brain tumors, and on family-based studies of genetic susceptibility
Summary
The BTEC is an open scientific forum that fosters the development of collaborations between brain tumor researchers that will lead to a better understanding of the etiology, outcomes, and prevention of brain tumors. BTEC mentors junior investigators as well as those who are new to brain tumor epidemiologic research [1]. The BTEC held its 2016 annual meeting in Barcelona, Spain, with the major theme “Immune factors and viral interactions in brain cancer etiology and outcomes”. Astounding are advances in immunotherapies and yet epidemiologists have used little of this new information on glioma’s interaction with the immune system in investigations on causality. This program sought to stimulate such research. A summary of the scientific content of the meeting is provided in this report
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