Greetings
Chair, The 63rd Annual Meeting of the Japan Liver Cancer Association
Professor, Department of Molecular Oncology,
Graduate School of Medicine
Institute of Science Tokyo
“Advancing the Medicine of Liver Cancer”
As the Chair of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Japan Liver Cancer Association, I would like to offer a few words of greeting.
Founded in 1965, the Japan Liver Cancer Association has long bridged the gap between research and clinical practice in liver cancer, pioneering new frontiers in diagnosis and treatment. Building upon this legacy of unwavering dedication, we have set “Advancing the Medicine of Liver Cancer” as the theme for the 63rd Annual Meeting.
Currently, the field of liver cancer treatment is undergoing a period of significant change at an unprecedented pace. This transformation is driven by advancements in combination immunotherapy, molecularly targeted therapy, and genomic medicine, as well as technological innovations such as robot-assisted surgery, transplantation, and regenerative medicine, and further accelerated by the adoption of AI and digital medicine. To truly optimize these new treatments and evolve them toward stratified medicine, a deeper understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of liver cancer through fundamental research is essential. Cutting-edge technologies, including spatial multi-omics analysis, which has made remarkable strides in recent years, now provide a detailed picture of the diversity of cancer cells and microenvironments, shedding new light on target identification for drug discovery and the elucidation of their mechanisms.
In this context, we emphasize not only “advancing,” which represents the dynamism of actively incorporating new clinical practices and technologies to develop next-generation diagnostic and treatment systems, but also “deepening,” which signifies the further exploration of the fundamental knowledge and clinical experience accumulated to date to grasp the true nature of liver cancer. By bringing together expertise from a wide range of fields including surgery, internal medicine, radiology, and pathology, as well as engineering and information science, the 63rd Annual Meeting aims to comprehensively integrate insights derived from both clinical analysis and fundamental research to explore ways to apply these findings to clinical practice.
We are convinced that this fusion and collaboration of knowledge will serve as the unwavering force that paves the way for the future of liver cancer treatment. We expect that this "advancing and deepening" will lead us to our goal of improving the prognosis of liver cancer patients, thereby demonstrating the “true value” of oncology.
We sincerely hope that the 63rd Annual Meeting will serve as an opportunity to foster in-depth discussions across disciplines and generations, leading to the next phase of medical evolution. We warmly invite everyone to participate.
July 2027