Onco Actu du 28 septembre 2015

	1. Biologie
MD Anderson study identifies leukemia tumor suppressor [MD Anderson Cancer Center] Protein-coding gene hnRNP K may be culprit in acute myeloid leukemia.
Stopping cancer’s scrum for survival [Cancer Research UK] New research from our scientists in Edinburgh – led by Professor Margaret Frame and published in the journal Cell – suggests that cancer cells can recruit these protective immune cells to their own team, surrounding them to keep back the immune system’s killer cells.
	3.1 Tabac
Expert opinion – Constant craving: how can science help smokers to quit? [Cancer Research UK] One of the big challenges is not necessarily to discover better ways of beating the cravings, but getting people to use the ways that we already know are effective. I’ve put all of this information into a book called the SmokeFree Formula, which is a distillation of 40 years of research into how best to stop smoking.
Rare 'healthy' smokers' lungs explained [BBC News] The analysis of more than 50,000 people showed favourable mutations in people's DNA enhanced lung function and masked the deadly impact of smoking.
Video games with smoking characters lack tobacco warnings [Reuters] “The connection between viewing smoking imagery and adolescent smoking uptake has been well established by numerous studies, yet tobacco imagery in video games seems to be flying under the radar.”
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Roche launches the cobas EGFR Mutation Test v2 for use with either plasma or tumour tissue samples [Roche] The test identifies 42 mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene, the most of any In-vitro Diagnostic (IVD) on the market, and can also be used as an aid in selecting eligible patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for therapy with an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI).
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
FDA Warns Liquid Biopsy Maker [The Scientist] The agency fires off a letter to Pathway Genomics, telling the company that its new cancer detection test could harm the public and is not validated by science.
	5. Traitements
Experimental drug combination shrinks lab-grown pancreatic tumours [Cancer Research UK] The drugs – called JQ1 and vorinostat – shrank tumours in laboratory mice with the disease, and also killed pancreatic cancer cells grown in the lab.
	5.2 Pharma
Running Novartis [In the Pipeline] The road ahead may look wide, but it can be surprisingly narrow, and there are deep ditches on both sides of it. These represent (for example) letting projects go on too long, and the opposite error as well of expecting them to deliver too soon.
Cometriq plays wallflower as Opdivo’s dance card fills [EP Vantage] Cometriq will not be able to escape comparisons with Opdivo. The first blow was their near-simultaneous release of positive results in renal cell carcinoma in July, and on Saturday they were put side by side in a late-breaking data session at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces U.S. Food and Drug Administration Regulatory Filing Update for the Opdivo+Yervoy Regimen in Patients with Previously Untreated Advanced Melanoma [BMS] New supplemental Biologics License Application based on Phase 3 data from CheckMate -067 trial.
	5.2.1 Pharma - Partenariats
Bristol-Myers Squibb and Moffitt Cancer Center Enter Into a Collaboration Agreement as Part of U.S. Immuno-Oncology Rare Population Malignancy Program [BMS] As part of the I-O RPM program, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Moffitt will conduct a range of early phase clinical studies, including clinical investigations by young investigators to strengthen their development as clinical research scientists.
	5.3.4 Traitements - AMM (FDA, EMA)
Amgen's leukemia drug gets conditional European approval [Reuters] Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company, expects final European approval for Blincyto in the coming months. The drug, which it got through the acquisition of biotechnology company Micromet in 2012, costs about $178,000 for two courses of treatment.
Roche skin cancer combination therapy gets EU panel backing [Reuters] The European Union's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, or CHMP, has adopted a positive opinion for Cotellic, when used in combination with Zelboraf for treatment of patients with a type of metastatic melanoma, Roche said in a statement.
Janssen’s daratumumab accepted for accelerated CHMP assessment for treatment of European patients with heavily pre-treated multiple myeloma [Johnson & Johnson] Daratumumab is an investigational, human anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody that works by binding to CD38, a signalling molecule found on the surface of multiple myeloma cells. In doing so, daratumumab triggers the patient’s own immune system to attack the cancer cells, resulting in rapid tumour cell death through multiple immune-mediated and other mechanisms of action.
Merck and Pfizer Announce FDA Orphan Drug Designation for Investigational Immunotherapy Avelumab in Merkel Cell Carcinoma [Pfizer] Avelumab (also referred to as MSB0010718C) is an investigational fully human monoclonal IgG1 antibody against programmed death-ligand 1 (anti-PD-L1). Merck and Pfizer are currently conducting a Phase II study (JAVELIN Merkel 200) to assess the safety and efficacy of avelumab in patients with metastatic MCC who have progressed after at least one prior chemotherapy regimen.
Meeting highlights from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) 21-24 September 2015 [EMA] 19 new medicines, of which two have been fast-tracked, receive positive opinions from the Committee.
CHMP recommends EU approval for Roche’s combination of Cotellic (cobimetinib) and Zelboraf (vemurafenib) in advanced melanoma [Roche] The CHMP’s recommendation is based primarily on results of the pivotal Phase III coBRIM study.
New treatment option for patients with rare blood cancer [EMA] The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended granting a marketing authorisation for Kyprolis (carfilzomib) to treat patients with multiple myeloma whose disease has relapsed (i.e. the cancer has come back after receiving at least one prior course of therapy). Kyprolis is for use in combination with the cancer medicines lenalidomide and dexamethasone.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
Peter Bach on drug pricing: “A system so broken even a child could manipulate it” [Scope Blog] In his talk, Bach discussed three of the major toll takers in the system — pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and researchers — and how the public’s wielding of a growing body of health-care data could be used to reign in a process that is driven more by profit than health outcomes.
Martin Shkreli Is Just a Tiny Part of a Huge Problem [The Nation] In fact, drug companies are pushing ahead with aggressive measures to further deregulate the industry and neuter the Food and Drug Administration, which approves new medical products.
	5.6.11 ESMO- Rein
In A First, Kidney Cancer Drug Extends Survival [Forbes] The NEJM has published two papers on kidney cancer treatment to coincide with their presentation at theEuropean Cancer Congress in Vienna. While neither study yields fantastic results, each demonstrates a significant benefit for a new drug in patients with advanced, refractory renal cell (kidney) tumors.
	5.6.13 ESMO - Prostate
OncoGenex Presents Additional Phase 3 SYNERGY Analyses Showing Custirsen Significantly Reduced Serum Clusterin Levels in Metastatic Prostate Cancer Patients; Low Levels Correlate with Improved Survival in Those at Increased Risk for Poor Outcomes [OncoGenex] "We look forward to top line results in metastatic CRPC patients at risk for poor outcomes later this year in our Phase 3 AFFINITY trial."
	5.6.4 ESMO - Poumon
Opdivo (nivolumab) Demonstrates Long Term Survival Benefit in Patients with Previously Treated Non-Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in CheckMate -057 [BMS] The NEJM has published two papers on kidney cancer treatment to coincide with their presentation at theEuropean Cancer Congress in Vienna. While neither study yields fantastic results, each demonstrates a significant benefit for a new drug in patients with advanced, refractory renal cell (kidney) tumors.
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
Understanding why some men still die from testicular cancer [The Institute of Cancer Research] Testicular cancer used to be a brutal killer. If you were diagnosed with nonseminoma (a type of testicular germ cell tumour) which had spread to the abdominal lymph nodes – surgical removal of these nodes was the only thing that could possibly cure you. If you had more advanced late-stage testicular cancer, little could be done.
NHS Strategy for Personalised Medicine revealed [PHG Foundation] The Medical Director of NHS England has outlined a broad strategy for shifting the National Health System (NHS) towards deliver of personalised medicine.
A case of me: clinical cancer sequencing and the future of precision medicine [Cold Spring Harbor] In this invited Perspective, I detail how my own experience as a patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) exemplifies several key concepts central to the implementation of cancer sequencing and precision medicine into clinical practice.
NHS Strategy for Personalised Medicine revealed [PHG Foundation] The Medical Director of NHS England has outlined a broad strategy for shifting the National Health System (NHS) towards deliver of personalised medicine.
	6.1 Observation
Breast cancer survival data shows age discrimination, experts warn [The Telegraph] Charities warn that older women with breast cancer are having their lives cut short because of "appalling" age discrimination which means treatment is less likely.
UK cancer survival improves but continues to lag behind best in Europe [Cancer Research UK] Nick Ormiston-Smith, Cancer Research UK’s head of statistics, cautioned that the data only covered patients diagnosed up to 2007. "This won’t reflect the impact of more recent improvements that the UK has seen in cancer survival," he said.
UK cancer survival worst in western Europe [The Telegraph] Research published in the European Journal of Cancer shows the UK has the worst survival rates for cancer in western Europe, with rates one third lower than those of Sweden.
	6.5 Médecines alternatives
Cancer quackery, Republican presidential candidates, and political influence [Respectful Insolence] It is depressing how easily politicians will assume that the FDA and a state medical board are out to “persecute” a “brave maverick doctor” like Burzynski, instead of what they are really trying to do in this case: Protect the public from an unscrupulous cancer quack.
	6.8 Communication
Why Everything Is Bad for You [NY Times] Like everyone else, I believe every word in those articles. And when my gaze reaches the fifth paragraph, the one that inevitably quotes the university professor who has conducted the latest fear-inducing study, I nod slightly and tell myself that somehow I knew it all along, that I always had a feeling that this meat, or that vegetable, was quickening my demise.