by ecancer reporter Audrey Nailor

The 10th Annual Meeting of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Conference has been broad in scope thus far, with popular discussions including the communication of cancer risk, the inclusion of consumers in cancer care, and a debate on the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Some broad highlights of today's discussions included a primer on cancer immunotherapy – and the meaning of life.

Finding the Meaning of Life

"Loss of meaning [in life] is not a 'druggable' condition," said Dr William Breitbart of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, in his plenary lecture on the psychiatry of cancer care.

Breitbart urges doctors to expand their definition of palliative care to include psychiatric, social, and spiritual care.

He notes that cancer patients who possess a framework for finding or regaining 'the meaning of their lives' express less depressive mindsets, less desire for hastened deaths, and more engagement with their situations.

"Please continue to be optimists," he concluded.

Broad and Basic Themes in Immunotherapy

"What I want you to understand about cancer immunotherapy is that it consists of multiple layers of regulation," said Dr Sergio Quezada of the University College London at a satellite symposium focused on the basic principles of tumour immunotherapy.

The session, which featured Professor Peter Johnson and Professor Christian Ottensmeier, both of Cancer Research UK, provided a simple primer on the historical and clinical backgrounds of cancer immunotherapy.

"It's like re-educating the immune system," Ottensmeier said.

Circulating the Future

Circulating cancer biomarkers are becoming viable in clinical decision-making, according to Professor Alain Thierry of the French Institute of Health and Medical Research.

"Five years from now, blood tests will stratify cancer patients," Professor Caroline Dive of the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute predicted. "Blood tests will predict relapses and personalise medicine."