ABSTRACTS
Submission closed
Submission guidelines
Title/Text
The title should be sentence case of maximum 100 characters. The abstract text is limited to 400 words excluding the title. The abstract allows for one attachments in the form of an image, which could also be an image on tables/graphs.
Author/Speaker
At the end of the submission form, please indicate if you are the author AND the speaker/presenter, or if you are submitting on the author/speaker’s behalf. If you are submitting on their behalf, please provide us with the full name and email address of the author/speaker for proper notification.
Final Submission
Please ensure the accuracy of your contact information AND your organization name (Sister Institution name, or the name of your hospital/university/cancer institute). Incomplete abstracts will not be considered for presentation. Please note, the type of presentation selected (oral or poster) during the submission process is a preference only, and may be changed based the number of abstracts submitted and time allotted per session.
It is the author’s responsibility to submit a correct abstract; any errors in spelling, grammar, or scientific fact will be published as typed by the author, if accepted. Poor English may be a cause for rejection.
Questions
All questions regarding abstracts should be emailed to abstracts.gap2018@appinconf.com .
Deadline
Extended final deadline is on January 28, 2018 at 11.59 PM, CET/GMT+1.
Scientific breakout session/ workshop (WS) summaries:
WS 1 – Lung cancer
Over the past 5 years, the lung cancer landscape has tremendously evolved. Immunotherapy, targeted agents and the implementation of biomarkers for treatment selection have resulted in improved patient outcome. This section will focus on various aspects of precision medicine for lung cancer, including implementation of treatment decision algorithms, investigation of broader sequencing methods, prognostic and predictive biomarkers as well as novel therapeutics. Attention will also be dedicated to diverse healthcare issues related to lung cancer management, including palliative care.
WS 2 – Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer is a medical emergency, with the numbers of cancer related deaths rising through the ranks. New approaches encompass both diagnostics and therapy. Blood-based markers will be based on liquid biopsy (ct-DNA, CTC, EV) and also novel protein marker profiles. Applying NGS to CTC bears the prospect of not only diagnosis PDAC but also do the molecular profiling instead of taking a biopsy. Two approaches, more complementing than competing, carry the hope for significant progress in treating PDAC: immunotherapy and precision medicine. The former consists of checkpoint inhibition but also cell based methods with T-cells and CAR. The latter comprises NGS of various extends (panel, WXS) and using artificial intelligence-based software tools to analyse the wealth of mutations in a more holistic way.
WS 3 – Targeting p53 in cancer
The TP53 tumor suppressor gene is the most frequently mutated gene in cancer. Around 50% of human tumors carry mutant TP53. The majority of these mutations are missense mutations that give rise to single amino acid substitutions in the p53 protein. As a result, most mutant p53 proteins in tumors fail to bind specifically to DNA, activate transcription of p53 target genes, and regulate cellular processes such as cell cycle arrest, metabolism and different forms of cell death. In tumors that carry wild type p53, various mechanisms including overexpression of the p53 antagonist Mdm2 can attenuate p53 function. Given the key role of p53 as regulator of cell growht and survival in response to cellular stress, and the high frequency of TP53 mutations in tumors, restoration of normal p53 function appears as an attractive strategy for improved cancer therapy. This session will focus on novel approaches for therapeutic targeting of p53 in cancer.
WS 4 – Global Health incl. tobacco control and cost of cancer care
Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, accounting for 8.8 million deaths in 2015. It is the leading cause of death in high-income countries, accounting for nearly one quarter of total mortality. It is generally classified as a disease associated with ageing, although it affects people in all ages.
In men, lung, prostate, colorectal, stomach and liver cancers are the most common types, while breast, colorectal, lung, cervix and stomach cancers are the most common cancers in women. The health burden of cancer varies between countries, but is increasing in all countries over time due to a changing disease panorama and the aging of populations. This means that cancer in the near future also will become a major burden for health care systems in the developing world, as life expectancy increases also in these countries.
WS 5 – Ovarian Cancer
Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most lethal of gynecological malignancies, with a world wide 5-year survival not reaching 50 %. However, in the last two decades we have reached a better understanding of the various disease subtypes and their molecular background, and treatment has improved accordingly. The implementation of antiangiogenic and BRCA-targeted therapies, together with immuotherapy, will thus increase survival numbers. Furthermore, the uptake of extensive and often ultra-radical surgery also contributes to better results, even if there is still controversy as to the timing of cytoreduction.
WS 6 – Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is globally the most common malignancy, with a present annual incidence of 2,4 million. The incidence is rapidly increasing, in particular in previously low incidence regions; should stimulate the usage of prevention strategies. The survival figures for different countries and regions are markedly different. Adjuvant therapies are effective and result in improved outcomes in many countries. Over- and undertreatment remain as key concerns due to the lack of precise therapy predictive factors/ and optimal usage of prognostication strategies. Neoadjuvant therapies, best studied for cytostatics and anti-Her 2 agents, are safe and have a better potential than the corresponding adjuvant therapies, with the potential advantage that non-responding patients can be offered early therapy switches aiming at improving outcomes. The number of advanced breast cancer patients varies markedly between countries and regions. The optimal and tailored therapy in the early and relapse setting require knowledge about the breast cancer biology, in both situations. The access and availability of modern therapies vary markedly in between countries and regions, which is a major challenge for many societies, regions and countries.
WS 7 – Melanoma and other skin cancers
Skin cancer is increasing rapidly in white-skinned populations across the world and is thereby becoming a growing health problem. During the last decade management of melanoma, in particular, has improved dramatically. Novel therapies including targeted drugs and immune checkpoint inhibitors have been established as standard of care for metastatic melanoma. This session will give an overview of current developments in skin cancer with the emphasis on melanoma, including progress in molecular epidemiology, diagnostics, novel predictive and prognostic markers, as well as recent advances in systemic therapy.
WS 8 – Cervical Cancer
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is an extremely common sexually transmitted infection worldwide, with the initial infection occurring in adolescence. Most infections are cleared, however persistent infection with high-risk oncogenic HPV genotypes, e.g. 16 and 18, is the cause of virtually all cervical cancers and annually around 500 000 new cases of cervical cancer occur worldwide. Prophylactic HPV vaccines have been available since 2006 and are very effective if given for prevention prior to infection but do not have effect on pre-existing HPV infections, dysplasias or invasive cancer. Cervical cancer incidence has declined in countries with efficient screening, but this is not the case in countries without screening. The aim of this session is to discuss cervical cancer, with regard to prevention, screening, and management of pre-invasive, invasive disease, including advanced disease.
WS 9 – Precision cancer medicine
Precision cancer medicine bridges the cancer research community, patients, clinicians as well as the diagnostics, IT and pharmaceutical companies. By collaborating and making use of new technological capabilities to understand subtypes of disease, molecular mechanisms, biomarkers, and the molecular effects of drugs and drug combinations in individual patients, there is hope to arrive at more effective and safer therapies tailored for the individual patients. A field surrounded by big hopes is also subject to hype. Indeed, recent review articles have brought forward critical comments towards overly simplistic forms of precisions medicine. It is clear that, for example, the sequencing of founder mutations in cancers is often not enough to arrive at curative treatments. However, there are many other exciting opportunities for diagnostics and therapeutics as well as strategies for matching molecular subtypes with treatments as well as designing innovative clinical trials. These will be featured and discussed in this session.
WS 10 – Clinical Trials in Cancer
The clinical trial process is slow and cumbersome. At the same time, oncology is both blessed and burdened by having the absolute greatest number of INDs (investigational new drugs) in relation to other disciplines in medicine. Advances in trial design and study patient selection have been evident over the past decade: Umbrella, basket, seamless and adaptive clinical trials are now routine. Landmark platform studies like I-Spy and Stampede, using state-of-the art statistics, are models for introducing new drugs and treatment strategies at a more rapid pace. The molecular phenotyping of cancer in clinical trials is rather the rule than the exception. Challenges for the future are many. In early clinical trials, there is a need to incorporate novel imaging and target engagement assays so that Precision Cancer Medicine is more than a patient selection tool. The number of cancer patients participating in clinical trials in both the Nordic countries as well as the United States is very small in relation to the cancer population at large. Endpoints in cancer trials, especially surrogate endpoints and novel endpoints warrant much thought. The 2018 GAP Conference session on clinical trials will be a forum to ventilate ideas and visions so that we are better equipped to facilitate the development of cancer care in the future.
WS 11 – Cancer Progenitor Cells
In this session the cellular origin of cancer will be discussed including the relationship to normal tissue stem cells and to cancer stem cells. Connected topics to be covered are tumour cell plasticity and how such plasticity may be influenced by the progenitor cell niche and cues provided by the tumour microenvironment, the transcriptional and molecular wiring of cancer progenitor cells and implications for tumour evolution and therapeutic strategies.
WS 12 – Prostate Cancer
Worldwide, prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer among men. For patients with localized tumors, ablative radiotherapy and radical prostatectomy serve as two complementary approaches with high curative rates. For generalized disease, the treatment armamentarium has extensively evolved during the past decade with the introduction of new hormonal compounds, immunotherapies, alpha-particle emitting radionuclides and novel taxanes; all of having demonstrated significant overall survival benefits. The optimal treatment sequencing, combinations and most appropriate use of these conceptually different modalities remains to be clarified alongside with the development of well validated predictive biomarkers. These controversies as well as recent advances within personalized treatment and evaluation approaches will be discussed during this session.
WS 13 – Stereotactic radiotherapy – level of evidence and clinical usefulness
Stereotactic radiotherapy is now a treatment modality, used for brain and body lesions, at more or less all clinics in the world where radiotherapy is performed. In spite of the spread use of the technology last year (2017) about 1800 articles were published as related to the theme and many treatment indications are still under validation. Treatment of medically inoperable early stage non-small cell lung cancer has shown that stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) may be curative. SBRT is also now challenging surgery in operable cases. In advanced and traditionally thought of as radio resistant disease (renal cancer) impressing efficacy has been noted. In the treatment of metastases (e.g. colorectal disease & NSCLC) SBRT can eradicate metastases and SBRT has therefore become an important tool to treat some forms of metastatic disease. The exact indications for such treatment is still, however, under investigation. Along this track curative attempts are underway with treatment of oligometastatic disease. The radiation biology of the treatment and dose constraints for different organs are still being explored. An issue that recently has come into focus is the use of SBRT in metastatic disease together with immunotherapy as an adjunctive and is currently under investigation in several trials based on the idea that SBRT will elicit an immune response. The session will cover some of these timely issues.
WS 14 – DNA repair
In this session molecular mechanisms of DNA repair and novel approaches for targeting DNA repair in cancer will be discussed. Focus will be on recent biological and therapeutic advances.
WS 15 – Individualized cancer screening and prevention
Disease areas: Prostate cancer, Breast cancer, Cervical Cancer
Despite successes in the treatment of breast, prostate and cervical cancer the mortality of these diseases is still substantial. We envision that implementation of individualized screening and prevention programs for these cancers will greatly lower mortality due to these diseases. The individualized screening programs will be based on prediction models that stratify persons according to their risk of developing cancer resulting in more efficient use of the existing resources for cancer screening. This would be much better both from an individual point of view as well as from resources’ point of view.
WS 16 – Colorectal Cancer
Colorectal cancer annually affects 1.4 million individuals world wide. Patients with colorectal cancer require a multidisciplinary approach to achieve tumor control and increase survival rates. During the last decades refined surgery, addition of radiotherapy (in rectal cancer) and novel medical treatments have improved survival. Despite a localized primary tumour, 30-40% of patients with colorectal cancer stage II-III develop metastatic disease with a high risk of death from the disease. Thus, there is a high need for more efficient therapies to improve survival in patients with colorectal cancer. Focus today is much on finding predictive and prognostic markers in order to individualize and improve diagnostic methods, treatment and rehabilitation in order to increase opportunities for cure, while reducing the side effects of treatment.
WS 17 – Hematological malignancies
The outcome of patients with hematological malignancies has vastly improved over recent years. More patients live longer and a higher fraction is cured. The session will focus on recent biological and therapeutic advances.
WS 18 – Head and Neck Cancer
Head and neck cancer is unfortunately increasing globally, particularly due to wide spread of HPV virus. The aim of this session is to discuss epidemiology and head and neck cancer treatment generally. This session will give the overview of current trends in H&N cancer treatment including chemoradiotherapy, targeted therapies and particularly discuss the role of immunotherapy in early stage as well as advanced stage of the disease. We will breafly discuss even quality of life during the therapy.
Nursing track – Nursing Leadership
Nursing leadership is about critical thinking, action and advocacy – and it happens in all roles and domains of nursing practice. Nursing leadership plays a pivotal role in the immediate lives of nurses and it has an impact on the entire Health system. There is therefore a need for a steady supply of visionary and inspiring nursing leaders that are inspiring to others and who have the authority and Resources to support modern, innovative and professional nursing practice.
Nursing track – Supportive Care
Effective, high-quality cancer care is now viewed as involving more than just the delivery of anti-cancer therapy, and increasingly, cancer service providers are required to address patients’ supportive care needs. Supportive care can be defined as care that helps a person with cancer and their family cope with cancer and its treatment, from pre-diagnosis through the process of diagnosis and treatment to cure, continuing illness or death and into bereavement.