Dr. Masahiro Asaka

The accolade was established in 2001 by the Japan Cancer Society in conjunction with the Asahi Shimbun as a special category of the Japan Cancer Society Award, which is given to individuals and organizations making significant contributions in tackling against cancer. The Asahi Cancer Award is intended for contributors involved in promising programs and activities in the field of cancer research, and Dr. Asaka is the first winner of the award in Hokkaido.

Dr. Asaka unveiled the infection rate of H. pylori by age for the first time in Japan. He also elucidated the relationship between H. pylori infection and gastric mucosal atrophy, followed by the relationship between H. pylori and gastric cancer, especially early gastric cancer. He also epidemiologically illustrated the relationship between H. pylori and gastric cancer as head of the "Group of Helicobacter pylori and Gastric Cancer Development" in the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research Priority Area of Cancer supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology from 1996 to 2000. Furthermore, he served as Chairman of the Guideline Committee at the Japanese Society for Helicobacter Research and established the nation's first set of guidelines on medical examination for H. pylori. He currently serves as the chairman of the society.

Award ceremony

While the relationship between H. pylori infection and gastric cancer had mostly been elucidated in the past based on numerous epidemiological research programs and laboratory animal research activities, there was a lack of scientific research on the effectiveness of H. pylori eradication in preventing the development of gastric cancer among humans. Given this, Dr. Asaka and his colleagues chose early gastric cancer patients who underwent endoscopic resection (i.e., those with the greatest risk of developing gastric cancer) because the number of such cases was relatively small and the research results would become available with a short period of observation. The three-year examinations and analysis carried out revealed that the incidence rate of secondary gastric cancer among those in whom H. pylori had been eradicated was about one-third of the rate for those who did not undergo eradication treatment. This result was reported in The Lancet (a leading British medical journal) in August 2008, sending a wave of excitement through the domestic and overseas media.

This research confirmed that the eradication of H. pylori suppresses the development of gastric cancer, and is significant in that it paves the way for the application of gastric cancer prevention through such treatment.

Based on this data, Dr. Asaka has proposed the elimination of gastric cancer in Japan by combining H. pylori eradication as a primary prevention measure and endoscopy as a form of secondary prevention.