Source: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center
Written by: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

Esophageal cancer is the fourth most common cause of death from cancer in Guangdong, with higher incidence recorded in eastern Guangdong. Roughly 70% of cases have extensive disease (advanced stage) at the time of diagnosis, with resultant long workups time, high treatment cost, and a poor outcome. The Guangdong Esophageal Cancer Research Institute established on May 18, 2013 is a category I independent legal entity of public interest formally approved by the Office of Government Set-up Committee of Guangdong Province. The institute is aimed to finalize the database of esophageal cancer and carry out epidemiological investigations in order to promote early diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer.

Sampling investigations on the causes of death, conducted in every province and major city in Mainland China have shown a mortality from esophageal cancer in Guangdong Province of 22.86 per hundred thousand (27.66 for males vs. 17.86 for female). Areas in the eastern part of Guangdong of markedly higher incidence of esophageal cancer include Jieyang, Shantou, Shanwei and Chaozhou, with the county of Nan’ao in Shantou city topping the chart and ranked second worst in China. Substantial breakthroughs are awaited in the prevention and treatment of esophageal cancer in Guangdong Province, one of the regions with a high incidence of the disease that significantly endangers the life and health of its people.

Since the esophagus itself is not sensitive to stimulus, symptoms at an early stage are almost not obvious, rendering early detection difficult. Due to the lack of early screening and early treatment, two-thirds of esophageal cancer patients are currently diagnosed as advanced stages. According to Prof. Fu JianHua, Director of the Guangdong Esophageal Cancer Research Institute, minimally invasive treatment in patients with early disease costs only thousands of Yuan and carries a five-year survival rate of more than 90%. However, for patients with advanced disease, not only the high cost of treatment is substantially high, but the outcome is rather poor as well.

The institute plans to set up a research base in the Eastern Guangdong city of Jieyang to boost early diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer through proactive screening, full understanding of its epidemiological features in Guangdong Province and the design of a province-wide database and registry of esophageal cancer. Additionally, the phenomenon of familial aggregation of esophageal cancer will undergo further elucidation, thanks to future genome analysis of known esophageal cancers with familial clustering, using up-to-date molecular biology technique to grasp the molecular mechanisms underlying the events leading to the occurrence of esophageal cancer or the genetic conversion pertaining its development. This will help unravel the genetic architecture of susceptibility to esophageal cancer.