Onco Actu du 20 avril 2015

A lire aussi : l'autre billet du jour "Spécial AACR"

	1. Biologie
Cancer research, H-Ras and the "easy" way [Genetics and Your Health Blog] Genomic data is very difficult to integrate into health records at this time, so, as with H-Ras, the impulse is to focus on the easy and pragmatic in the short term, despite the fact that it may yield little in the long run.
Protein Spurs T-Cell Proliferation [The Scientist] A newly discovered protein promotes immunity to viruses and cancer by triggering the production of cytotoxic T cells.
	3.1 Tabac
E-cigarette battle heats up [Harvard Gazette] Hammond suggested the United States could learn from the international diversity of regulation. In Canada, e-cigarettes are not approved for sale. The European Union regulates e-cigarettes like tobacco, taxing and requiring product standards to reduce harm.
Study doesn't prove e-cigs make quitting smoking harder [NHS Choices] This study found that people who have used e-cigarettes may be less likely to quit smoking, but it can’t prove that’s the case. There are limitations to the findings and confirmation is needed from other studies.
Many teens try e-cigarettes, but few become regular users [BMJ Blogs] The researchers admit that a lack of consensus about what constitutes ‘use’ of an e-cigarette presents something of a challenge for research in this area, and suggest that further much longer term studies to include the generation of young people who have grown up with e-cigarettes are needed before firmer conclusions can be drawn.
Youth e-cigarette data prompts new calls to speed regulation [Reuters] FDA spokesman Michael Felberbaum said on Friday the agency is "moving forward expeditiously to finalize the rule." Its goal is to release it in June. But the potential for delay is considerable.
	4.10 Dép., diag. & prono. - FDA, EMA, NICE,...
FDA and CMS Form Task Force on LDT Quality Requirements [FDA Voice] Health care providers and their patients expect that laboratory tests used in clinical management of patients should be consistent and of high quality.
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
Another one of those ‘simple blood tests’ you’re always reading about [Cancer Research UK] You’d be correct in thinking it’s also too good to be true.
Blood Test Shows Promise as Alternative to Cancer Biopsy [NY Times] The patients will be told their blood test results, although the investigators worry how some will react. “If you find DNA and tell the patient there is a very high risk of recurrence, that creates a lot of anxiety,” Dr. Gibbs said. “And we are not sure chemotherapy will be helpful.”
	4.2 Dép., diag. & prono. - Génome
Novel Genomics Technique Could Predict Cancer Therapy Outcomes [GEN] Researchers used a new scoring technique they developed called MATH (mutant-allele tumor heterogeneity) to measure the genetic variability among cancer cells within tumors from 305 patients with head and neck cancer.
	4.9 Dép., diag. & prono. - Sein
Assessing Breast Cancer Risk: Beyond the Angelina Effect [DNA Science Blog] Genetics is an imprecise science, and that’s why I try to use precise language. People develop cancer, they don’t contract it. The BRCA genes do not cause cancer, they elevate risk.
Cutting Through The Hyped Costs Of Mammograms [Forbes] The main problems I see are two. The first is in how the authors define a false positive, which is too liberally. The second is the authors’ estimate that “overdiagnosis” occurs in 22 percent of invasive breast cancers in women between the ages of 40 and 59. These assumptions undermine their calculations of mammography’s tab.
	5. Traitements
What you need to know about the EU Clinical Trial Regulation [Pharmafile] The new regulation, once adopted, will aim to ensure a greater level of harmonisation of the rules of conducting clinical trials throughout the EU.
	5.10 Traitements - Essais
CheckMate -057, a Pivotal Phase III Opdivo (nivolumab) Lung Cancer Trial, Stopped Early [BMS] Opdivo Demonstrates Superior Overall Survival Compared to Docetaxel in Patients with Previously-Treated Non-Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.
BMS' PD-1 drug Opdivo continues on stellar trajectory [FiercePharma] Investors are clearly highly excited because it is a category that analysts have said could generate sales of $22 billion to $33 billion by 2020.
Bristol's Opdivo proves effective against second type of lung cancer [Reuters] The U.S. drugmaker on Friday said the study, called Checkmate-057, was stopped early after an independent data monitoring committee concluded that Opdivo provided a survival advantage over docetaxel, a standard chemotherapy, among patients with previously treated non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
	5.12 Immunothérapies
Cancer Immunotherapy Timeline [Cancer Research Institute] Our timeline, spanning 1891 to today and containing more than 200 entries, shows some of the major discoveries and milestones in the field, highlighting CRI's impact along the way.
Discovery could 'boost immune system's cancer fighting ability' [NHS Choices] Discovery aside, research on this protein is at its first stage. A balance of the beneficial and harmful effects of boosting the immune system with this protein would need to be struck before it can start being tested on people.
	5.2 Pharma
Merck Announces Submission of Supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) to U.S. FDA for KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer [Merck] The submission is based on data from KEYNOTE-001 in patients with greater than or equal to 50 percent of tumor cells positive for PD-L1 expression.
Roche to Skip Ahead to Late-Stage Study for Breast Cancer Drug [Bloomberg Business] The Swiss company will study MPDL3280A for triple-negative breast cancer, which is currently treated mostly with chemotherapy, spokeswoman Holli Dickson said in a phone interview. The drug will be tested in combination with chemotherapy.
AstraZeneca reports strong progress with cancer drugs ahead of results [The Guardian] Drugmaker poised to file AZD9291 for lung cancer for US approval, while FDA grants orphan drug status for eye cancer treatment
	5.2.1 Pharma - Partenariats
Innate Pharma and Sanofi Collaborate on Next Generation Antibody-Drug Conjugates Using Innate's Site-Sepecific Conjugation Technology [Innate Pharma] “By combining some of Sanofi R&D’s anti-tumor antibodies with our novel technology for conjugating cytotoxic compounds, this collaboration opens the gate to next-generation ADCs with a potentially improved therapeutic index for patients with cancer.”
	5.6 ESMO
ELCC 2015 Press Release: Smokers Underestimate Risks of a Few Cigarettes [ESMO] Survey shows that many live in ‘denial’ of the real risks of smoking even a small number of cigarettes a day.
ELCC 2015 Press Release: One in Four Advanced Lung Cancer Patients Tested for EGFR Mutations Started on First-line Treatment Before Test Results Available [ESMO] To examine the real-world situation, he and colleagues conducted an online survey of 562 oncologists in 10 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, UK and USA) between December 2014 and January 2015.
ELCC 2015 Press Release: DNA Blood Test Detects Lung Cancer Mutations [ESMO] The tests in this study were not performed in specially selected central labs, but in local labs that are used for daily clinical routine. “This is important, because it does reflect the clinical reality and not a ‘virtual’ trial reality.”
ELCC 2015 News: Detection of EGFR T790M Mutation from Circulating Tumour DNA in Urine of Patients with Metastatic NSCLC [ESMO] In this study, urine samples were taken from patients with metastatic NSCLC who progressed on erlotinib treatment and ctDNA was extracted by a method that preferentially isolates short, fragmented ctDNA.
New international survey of lung cancer oncologists highlights underutilization of personalized treatments [Boehringer Ingelheim] For nearly one in four lung cancer patients tested for EGFR mutations, results were not available in time to guide treatment decisions.
	6.1 Observation
Future Directions for NCI’s Surveillance Research Program [National Cancer Institute] In addition to expanding tracking of clinical aspects of cancer, auto-processing of data that routinely come to NCI is at the top of the SEER to-do list.
	6.10 Politiques
Election 2015: what are the parties saying about cancer? [Cancer Research UK] They’ve made some ambitious promises – substantially increasing funding for the NHS, reducing waiting times for diagnostic tests, continued investment in cancer treatments and protecting the science spend to name a few. But the devil is always in the detail.
Doug Lowy (NCI): “We Need to Continually Look at the Distribution of Funds That We Allocate to the Areas of Investment [The Cancer Letter] What I am hoping to articulate is how to make more progress in cancer prevention and screening largely through the application of the principles of precision medicine. There also may simply be some opportunities to improve screening algorithms or something like that. That’s the main area. Another area is cancer health disparities.
	6.9 Controverses
The reproducibility of Science. A meeting report. [DC's Improbable Science] In summary, the meeting was very timely, and it was fun. But I ended up thinking it had a bit too much of preaching good intentions to the converted. It failed to grasp some of the nettles firmly enough.
US societies push back against NIH reproducibility guidelines [Nature News & Comment] 'Premature' rules for preclinical research need more flexibility and greater community involvement, say scientific society leaders.
MD Anderson Execs Get Big Raises In the Midst of Faculty Morale Woes [The Cancer Letter] “It’s a ghastly mistake to exacerbate income inequality at a time when the institution is under severe pressure and the culture is aggravated by the gap between management and the workforce being too big”.