Despite marginal improvements in survival gained from multimodality treatment, long-term survival rates remain low for lung cancer, which remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in North America. BLP25 liposomal (L-BLP25) vaccine (Stimuvax) is a promising liposomal vaccine designed to generate an immune response against MUC1, a glycoprotein expressed on the cell surface of many normal epithelial tissues and over or aberrantly expressed on many carcinoma cells, including non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). MUC1 is potentially a good target for immunotherapy, as evidenced by preclinical data and in Phase I and II clinical trials demonstrating the potential early activity of L-BLP25 with minimal toxicity in NSCLC. A Phase III randomized, placebo-controlled trial of L-BLP25 is currently being conducted in stage III NSCLC patients.

Background: Women with breast cancer are more likely to develop cognitive impairment (CI), insomnia, fatigue, and mood disturbance than individuals with other cancers. The main objectives of this study were to establish the prevalence of CI and examine the relationships between CI, insomnia, fatigue, and mood over the first year of breast cancer treatment.Methods: Participants were recruited after diagnosis and completed validated measures of insomnia, objective and perceived CI, fatigue, and mood disturbance at four time points during the first year of treatment. A random intercepts cross‐lagged panel model assessed relationships among symptoms over time.Results: The sample included 98 women. Prevalence of objective CI ranged from 3.1% to 8.2% throughout the year, whereas 36.7% demonstrated a clinically meaningful decline in perceived CI from baseline to 4 months, which remained relatively stable. Greater perceived CI was associated with more fatigue (β = −0.78, z = 17.48, p < .01) and symptoms of insomnia (β = −0.58, z = 5.24, p < .01). Short‐term fluctuations in perceived CI (p < .05), but not fatigue or insomnia, predicted future perceived CI. Fatigue (p < .001) was a significant predictor of future reported symptoms of fatigue and insomnia.Conclusion: Subjective CI is more prevalent than objective impairments. Fatigue, insomnia, and perceived CI remain stable and are associated during the first year of treatment. Changes in insomnia and fatigue may have little effect on future perceived cognition. Women with breast cancer likely require targeted intervention for these side effects.

Background Mastectomy is often chosen by women for treatment of breast cancer, even when breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is an option. Newfoundland and Labrador has a high mastectomy rate. We documented the number of breast cancers over a given period in the province and their related surgical treatments, and explored the impact of several variables on surgical choice. Methods A retrospective cohort design linked diagnosis data from the Newfoundland and Labrador tumour registry to surgery data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information Discharge Abstract Database. Data were extracted for all women aged 19 years or more in whom breast cancer was diagnosed in 2009-2014. Results A total of 2346 cases of breast cancer with a linked surgical procedure were included. Most operations (1605 [68.4%]) were mastectomy procedures, with the remainder being BCS. Logistic regression analysis revealed that women were 1.82 times (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.64-2.02) more likely to have mastectomy for each unit of stage increase from 0 to IV and 1.15 times (95% CI 1.11-1.21) more likely for each unit of driving time increase. Conclusion Tumour stage and driving time to a radiation facility significantly predicted Newfoundland and Labrador women's surgical treatment choices for breast cancer. Notably, mastectomy was the favoured choice across all age groups, tumour stages and geographical regions of the province. We hope that these results will galvanize efforts to better understand local surgical practices and assist in improving the quality of surgical care of women with breast cancer.

On behalf of the Canadian Association of Medical Oncologists, we are pleased to present the Abstracts of the 2021 Annual Meeting. The National CAMO Residents Research Day was held virtually on 1 April 2021 and the CAMO Virtual Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) & Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place on 22 April 2021. Twenty (20) abstracts were selected for presentation as oral presentations and rapid-fire presentations. Awards for the top three (3) abstracts were presented during the ASM and AGM. All of them were marked as “Award Recipient”. We congratulate all the presenters on their research work and contribution.

4074 Background : The interplay between comorbidity, age and performance status (PS) as predictors of outcome in ACRC is not well described. We examined these factors as predictors of treatment toxicity and outcome in cetuximab-treated patients with ACRC. Methods: Comorbidity was independently evaluated by 2 physicians using the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), a previously validated measure of comorbidity based on the presence or absence of index medical conditions weighted according to their affect on mortality. CCI score was correlated with demographic data (age, gender), PS, site of primary, time from diagnosis to randomization, body mass index, hemoglobin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatinine clearance, K-ras status and OS. Results: 572 patients were included. 41% were ≥65 years and 25% had comorbidities at randomization. CCI score was 1 in 21% and ≥ 2 in 4%. In multivariate analysis (MVA) of all covariates, only older age (≥65 years) was associated with greater comorbidity (p=0.005). OS was different among 3 comorbidity groups (CCI score 0, 1, ≥ 2) in univariate analysis (median OS 4.9 vs 5.9 vs 4.8 months;, logrank p=0.04) but not in MVA. Conversely, lower PS remained associated with better OS in MVA (HR 1.96 for PS=2 vs. PS=0, p<0.0001). Age was not associated with OS (p=0.11). Other factors significantly associated with OS in MVA included time from diagnosis to randomization, LDH, ALP, hemoglobin, Kras status and cetuximab treatment. In the BSC arm, comorbidity was not associated with OS in MVA (HR 0.83 CCI 1 vs. CCI0, p=0.26 and HR 0.90 for CCI2 vs. CCI0, p=0.78) suggesting comorbidity is not prognostic in this setting. Patients with higher CCI score had a nonsignificant trend toward greater treatment effects. Patients ≥65 years had less gr≥3 vomiting (1.8 vs 7.9%, p=0.034) but more dyspnea (24.5 vs 11.2%, p=0.005). Patients with higher CCI scores had less vomiting (p=0.008) but more non-neutropenic infection (p=0.012). Conclusions: In this clinical trial, comorbidity and age were not independent predictors of survival, highlighting the difference between comorbidity and PS.