Onco Actu du 9 juillet 2015

	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Recommendations for UK National Screening Committee [PHG Foundation] The PHG Foundation contributed to the review process by producing a report specifically looking at the appraisal of genetic and genomic screening programmes.
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
Trovagene Initiates Study to Monitor Response to Immunotherapy in Melanoma Patients Using its Precision Cancer Monitoring Platform [Trovagene] Study objective is to deliver a urinary liquid biopsy-based solution to provide faster and more accurate information for measuring response to immunotherapy.
CELLSEARCH® System chosen as platform for new research on PD-L1 and Circulating Tumor Cells [Johnson & Johnson] Study demonstrates feasibility of liquid biopsy for use in breast cancer trials.
	5. Traitements
Solving a breast cancer mystery – why do ‘double-positive’ women do better? [Cancer Research UK] Understanding the progesterone receptor’s role as a molecular handbrake on oestrogen-fuelled growth could also explain the observation that breast cancers frequently evolve to get rid of their progesterone receptors – this is an advantage to cancer, helping it grow quicker.
Common hormone could help treat breast cancer [Cancer Research UK] We’ve used cutting-edge technology to tease out the crucial role that progesterone receptors play in breast cancer – a mystery that has baffled scientists for many years.
Drug could help slow half of breast cancers, study suggests [BBC News] The UK and Australian researchers say the findings are "very significant" and they are planning clinical trials.
Breast cancer hope as hormone shown to slow tumour growth [The Guardian] The fresh hope emerged from research in animals which found that the hormone, progesterone, slowed the growth of breast cancers when it was combined with tamoxifen, the standard drug treament.
	5.2 Pharma
Roche heads doctor, hospital payment league in 2014 [pharmaphorum] The first full year of data collated by the US government on pharma company payments to doctors and hospitals reveals that Roche was the biggest spender in 2014, splashing out more than $430 million.
	6.1 Observation
Colon Cancer Hotspots: More Similar to Romania and Russia than to Rest of the U.S. [ACS] In concluding, the researchers point to the state of Delaware, which “effectively eliminated colorectal cancer disparities in less than a decade by implementing comprehensive statewide colorectal cancer screening. The rapid introduction of coordinated, targeted, community-based screening programs in these high-risk areas could be similarly successful.”
Three Large U.S. Hot Spots Have Excessive Colorectal Cancer Death Rates [AACR] “Although we’ve made great strides against colorectal cancer in a fairly short time period, there are a lot of vulnerable populations that aren’t benefiting. Now that these groups have been identified, there is a moral obligation to do something about it.”
	6.6 Publications
A numbers game [Nature] The problem is that most of these metrics tools lack transparency. At the heart of the system, databases of academic outputs and citations are not publicly accessible or auditable.
We need a measured approach to metrics [Nature News & Comment] To reduce the likelihood of abuse, publishers should stop their unhealthy emphasis on the journal impact factor as a promotional tool.
	6.7 DMP, Big Data & applis
Cloud cover [Nature] Late last month, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a biomedical and genomic research centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced a partnership with Google Genomics to use its cloud-computing platform to store, analyse and share data. Other clouds are available, and scientists have hooked up with many of them.
Sequencing the genome creates so much data we don’t know what to do with it [The Washington Post] Scientists are predicting that genomics — the field of sequencing human DNA — will soon take the lead as the biggest data beast in the world, eventually creating more digital information than astronomy, particle physics and even popular Internet sites like YouTube.
Data analysis: Create a cloud commons [Nature News & Comment] Major funding agencies should ensure that large biological data sets are stored in cloud services to enable easy access and fast analysis.