A future of cancer prevention and cures: highlights of the Centennial Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research

The Centennial Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) was held from 14-18 April 2007 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This meeting brought together a diverse group of over 18 000 researchers working in the fields of basic and applied cancer sciences, and explored how cancer research could be used most effectively to prevent and cure cancer at the earliest possible stage. The goal of the AACR Annual Meeting was to stimulate the dialog between basic and clinical researchers so that the translation of new discoveries might be speeded up for the benefit of cancer patients. Advances in the clinical application of genomics, epigenomics and proteomics to diagnose, monitor and prognosticate cancer development led to a dramatic increase in the number of presentations with a translational focus at this year's meeting. Several remarkable areas were particularly highlighted in this report, including The Cancer Genome Atlas, cancer stem cells, microRNA and siRNA, targeted therapy and individualized treatment. This article tries to bring attention to some hot topics in the program that are both new and noteworthy. For those who did not attend the meeting, this report may serve as a highlight of this important international cancer research meeting.