Onco Actu du 21 juillet 2015

	1. Biologie
Shape-shifting molecular cousins are the key to DNA repair [Cancer Research UK] Figuring out the finer details of the molecular gymnastics involved in DNA repair in tiny worms is all very interesting, but the next step for Simon and his team is to find out whether the human RAD51 paralogs are working in the same way.
	2. Etiologie
Poor sleeping patterns link to cancer [BBC News] Mice prone to developing breast cancer had their body clock delayed by 12 hours every week for a year. Normally they had tumours after 50 weeks - but with regular disruption to their sleeping patterns, the tumours appeared eight weeks earlier.
	3.1 Tabac
Brighton could be the first UK city to ban smoking on the beach [The Telegraph] Brighton Council already has a voluntary ban on smoking in children's play areas, but now the city's parks and beaches could be smoke-free too.
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Pill on a string can detect throat cancer without need for biopsy [The Telegraph] The pill is swallowed and when the outer case dissolves it reveals a sponge which can then be pulled up the throat lining, collecting cells. Researchers say the tiny sponge is more effective at picking up cancer because it takes a swab of the whole throat and not just a small area that a biopsy would examine.
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
Liquid Biopsy the Key to ‘Active Surveillance’ of Cancer, Guardant Health Says [Wall Street Journal] The company, which is backed with more than $100 million from Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Formation8, says it will be the only one to offer comprehensive biopsies from a simple blood draw.
	5. Traitements
Promise of precision medicine for common type of lymphoma [National Cancer Institute] In this phase II trial, patients with the activated B-cell-like (ABC) subtype of DLBCL were more likely to respond to ibrutinib than patients with the germinal center B-cell-like (GCB) subtype of DLBCL.
	5.12 Immunothérapies
Adaptimmune touts a promising snapshot of TCRs for myeloma [FierceBiotech] Closely related and possibly superior to CAR-Ts (because they can go after intracellular as well as surface targets), Adaptimmune's lead TCR equips T cells extracted from patients to hunt down the NY-ESO-1 cancer testis antigen.
	5.2 Pharma
CheckMate -025, a Pivotal Phase III Opdivo (nivolumab) Renal Cell Cancer Trial, Stopped Early [BMS] The company looks forward to sharing these data with health authorities soon.
Exelixis Announces Positive Top-Line Results from METEOR, the Phase 3 Pivotal Trial of Cabozantinib versus Everolimus in Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma [Exelixis] Overall Survival Interim Analysis Showed a Trend Favoring Cabozantinib.
Phase III Trial Shows Nivolumab Improves Survival in Advanced Kidney Cancer [Cancer Research Institute Blog] This large phase III trial of nivolumab is one of several that have been stopped early because the interim results showed greater effectiveness of nivolumab compared to the standard-of-care drug. The most recent was a trial of nivolumab in non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer, which was stopped in April of this year. The kidney cancer trial was scheduled to end in February 2016.
Exelixis Scores Much-Needed Kidney Cancer Study Win to Boost Drug Sales [TheStreet] In the phase III study known as "METEOR," Cometriq achieved the primary endpoint of delaying tumor progression or death compared to the Novartis (NVS) drug Afinitor, Exelixis said Monday.
Exelixis Drug Slows Kidney Cancer In New Chance For Embattled Biotech [Forbes] Update: This morning, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that its immunotherapy, Opdivo, also delayed cancer progression more than Afinitor in kidney cancer. This raises questions about the sales potential of Exelixis’ drug.
Bristol-Myers' Opdivo found effective in kidney cancer [Reuters] Opdivo, already in use to treat advanced melanoma and forms of lung cancer, belongs to a highly promising new class of medicines called PD-1 inhibitors that block a mechanism tumors use to hide from the immune system.
	5.2.1 Pharma - Partenariats
GSK, Pfizer, AstraZeneca collaborations tilt U.K. academics to Big Pharma [FierceBiotech] A high-profile examination of the state of play of partnering in academic research circles, the Dowling Report, says Glaxo is the single largest collaborator with academia in the U.K., for any industry.
Agenus Acquires Novel Antibodies to Immuno-oncology Target CEACAM1 [Agenus] “Diatheva’s anti-CEACAM1 monoclonal antibodies expand and complement our broad portfolio of checkpoint modulators and personalized cancer vaccines, with the potential to create best-in-class combination therapies for treating patients with cancer.”
	5.2.3 Pharma - économie
Genzyme’s family tree: How Henri Termeer spawned network of Genzyme alums leading dozens of biotechs from Cambridge to Stockholm [The Boston Globe] Dubbing themselves the “Genzyme diaspora,” this elite club of former colleagues at the pioneering biotech company scattered as Genzyme and the industry matured and changed — many after French drug giant Sanofi acquired the firm in 2011. They are now perched as CEOs at about two dozen smaller companies.
	5.3.4 Traitements - AMM (FDA, EMA)
European Imbruvica approval for Janssen [Pharmafile] “The EU licence for ibrutinib in Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia is exciting, as it is the first licensed treatment for this rare disease in the UK."
European Commission Approves Nivolumab BMS, the First PD-1 Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor in Europe Proven to Extend Survival for Patients with Previously-Treated Advanced Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer [BMS] First Immuno-Oncology agent approved in Europe for lung cancer, and the first major treatment advance in more than a decade.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
Rising U.S. Drug Prices Are Focus of Research Grant [Wall Street Journal] A Houston philanthropist couple plans to announce Tuesday that they are providing a $5.2 million grant to a Boston nonprofit, the Institute of Clinical and Economic Review, to expand the group’s research evaluating whether new drugs are worth their price tags.
	5.5 ASCO
ASCO Attendees Anticipate Increasing Use of Molecular Diagnostics Over Next Decade [The OBR Blog] When asked to look out over the next 10 years, oncologists say they expect to see their use of comprehensive genomic testing increase to nearly half their patients, while they anticipate that emerging molecular diagnostic tests will account for one-quarter of their treatment decisions.
ASCO Urges Expansion of Cancer Research to Include More Older Adults [ASCO] The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) today issued landmark recommendations calling for federal agencies and the cancer research community to broaden clinical trials to include older adults. ASCO also called for redefining eligibility for clinical trials.
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
The rocky road to developing new children’s cancer treatments [The Institute of Cancer Research] Although we live in an era of personalised medicine for many adult cancers, progress has been much slower in children. One of the limiting factors has been finding the genes that are driving children’s cancer, understanding their biological effects, and finding ways to target them with drugs.
Children’s Cancer Is Unprofitable and Ignored [Newsweek] “The big elephant in the room is the cost of this type of research,” says Raphaël Rousseau, director of pediatric oncology drug development at pharmaceutical giant Roche.
Comprehensive Cancer Care for Children and Their Families: Summary of a Joint Workshop by the Institute of Medicine and the American Cancer Society [The National Academies Press] At this workshop, clinicians and researchers in pediatric oncology, palliative, and psychosocial care, along with representatives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, National Cancer Institute, Children's Oncology Group, pharmaceutical companies, and patient advocacy organizations, discussed and developed a menu of options for action to improve research, quality of care, and outcomes for pediatric cancer patients and their families.
The vitamin D question: what's the best advice? [Cancer World] The beta-carotene fiasco warned oncologists off suggesting supplements on the basis of observational studies. But with vitamin D now in the spotlight, how should doctors respond when their patients ask if it could help?
	6.1 Observation
MD Anderson study finds one-third of colorectal cancers diagnosed before age 35 are hereditary [MD Anderson Cancer Center] Going forward, Vilar-Sanchez would like to focus efforts on the remaining two-thirds of patients diagnosed under age 35 without an identified genetic cause. Within this group, 28.6 percent had a family history of CRC and 51.6 percent had a family history of other cancers. Strong family disease history suggests a hereditary contribution and future research will try to identify the gene mutations responsible.
Survival patterns in U.S. women with invasive breast cancer [National Cancer Institute] Tumor size at diagnosis has shrunk since the 1980s, but new evidence shows that changes in tumor size within each stage at diagnosis explain only a small proportion of the improvement in breast cancer mortality in women under the age of 70.
	6.11 Patients
Meeting A Stem Cell/Bone Marrow Donor Reminds Us All About Ordinary People Doing Something Extraordinary [Dr Len] This may sound strange, but I had never met a volunteer stem cell/bone marrow donor before. And having witnessed his excitement over the previous hour and a half, I have to say I was pretty impressed.
	6.6 Publications
Gynecologic cancer researcher up to 13 retractions [Retraction Watch] Noriyuki Takai, a gynecologic cancer researcher at Oita University in Japan, has lost another five papers. With a new total of 13, that means he’s now on our leaderboard.
	6.7 DMP, Big Data & applis
Team links gene expression, immune system with cancer survival rates [Stanford Medicine] Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have compiled a database that integrates gene expression patterns of 39 types of cancer from nearly 18,000 patients with data about how long those patients lived.
The 'LinkedIn' for Cancer [Newsweek] Together, doctors and patients will form a knowledge network around certain genetic mutations that Tenenbaum envisions as “similar to LinkedIn.”
	6.8 Communication
UK experts demand reinstigation of 'shelved' lung cancer awareness campaign [ecancer - News] “We are disappointed that the Department of Health does not appear to be building on the success of its own nationwide lung cancer awareness initiative, and that the campaign seems to have been shelved.”
	6.9 Controverses
New York Attorney General Accuses Brooklyn Children’s Charity of Fraud [NY Times] Over the years, donors gave millions of dollars to the National Children’s Leukemia Foundation, perhaps motivated by brochures or telemarketing pitches describing the charity’s bone marrow registry or its cancer research building. Neither of those things existed, the New York State attorney general’s office said in a petition filed in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn on Monday.