Onco Actu du 5 novembre 2015

	4.12 Biopsies liquides
Blood test picks out prostate cancer drug resistance [The Institute of Cancer Research] The new research paves the way for information from a blood test to inform prostate cancer treatment in future, with only those patients whose cancers are free of resistance mutations taking the drug, abiraterone.
DNA in blood can track cancer development and response in real time [Cancer Research UK] The results show that the DNA in the blood samples matched up with that from the biopsies, reflecting the same pattern and timing of genetic changes appearing as the cancer developed and responded to treatment. The results provide the first proof-of-principle that analysing tumour DNA in the blood can accurately monitor cancer within the body.
Blood test could determine prostate cancer therapy [BBC News] Tests on 97 men, described in Science Translational Medicine, were able to tell whether tumours were already resistant to the drug abiraterone.
Case for testing cancer in blood builds, one study at a time [Reuters] What is missing is data showing that early intervention based on liquid biopsies actually affects outcomes - but there are more and more hints.
	4.5 Dép., diag. & prono. - Colorectal
Mayo spins rosy tale on Cologuard cancer screen -- ignoring costs, false-positives and other crucial context [HealthNewsReview] While short on that kind of information, the release is long on promotional-sounding quotes, including one from Robert Diasio, MD, who calls the results “impressive” and says the test “represents an accurate, patient-friendly and readily accessible new option that we hope will lead to improved screening participation rates in Alaska and across the country.”
	4.9 Dép., diag. & prono. - Sein
Breast cancer screenings spark debate [STAT] What’s a woman to do? And why is it so tough to come up with standardized guidelines that everyone agrees on? We asked a half-dozen experts to weigh in.
	5. Traitements
Why combined therapies increase survival in prostate cancer [Karolinska Institutet] The findings, which are presented in the journal Science Translational Medicine, show that castration therapy impairs the DNA-repair machinery of the cancer cells, making them more sensitive to radiation.
	5.10 Traitements - Essais
Advanced Renal Cancer: What is a Breakthrough Worth? [Now@NEJM] Studies have linked everolimus to longer progression-free-survival compared to placebo. Two trials, published recently in NEJM, suggest there may be more effective alternatives.
	5.2 Pharma
Evelo Launches With $35M To Fight Cancer With Cocktails of Bacteria [Xconomy] Evelo is working on preclinical product candidates, but Gill declined to say when the first one might reach clinical trials.
Spotlight on lung cancer: rapid progress with targeted therapies and immuno-oncology [LabTalk - the AstraZeneca science blog] AstraZeneca has put combination therapy at the heart of its oncology strategy.
Startup aims to harness the microbiome to treat cancer [STAT] The latest drug company to enter the market is Evelo Therapeutics, which launched on Wednesday. The Massachusetts company, born out of Flagship Ventures’ in-house incubator and backed with $35 million from the venture capital firm, wants to develop drugs made of bacteria to target cancers of the lung, skin, prostate, and colon.
	5.2.1 Pharma - Partenariats
Eisai Signs Research Collaboration Agreement with the Paoli Calmettes Institute [Eisai] Under the terms of the agreement, IPC will perform chemo-informatic virtual screening of a pre-selected Eisai chemical library, to identify new protein-protein inhibitors (PPI) for further biological evaluation. The ultimate goal of the collaboration is to identify compounds for biological evaluation in oncology indications.
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer Announce Initiation of Phase III First-Line Trial of Avelumab in Patients with Recurrent or Stage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer [Pfizer] Trial marks second Phase III study of avelumab in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) initiated by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer in just over six months.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
Cancer Drugs Fund: Kadcyla back on list [BBC News] Richard Erwin, of drug company Roche, said it was unfortunate that a separate drug, Avastin (also known as bevacizumab), used for colorectal and breast cancer, had been rejected.
Breast cancer drug Kadcyla to remain on NHS after manufacturer lowers price [The Guardian] Roche would not divulge the details of the deal, which it said were commercially confidential. The original price, however, was £5,900 a month and patients tended to be on it for an average of 9.6 months, it said, bringing the real cost to the NHS down to about £60,000. The discount is likely to bring the cost close to the Nice threshold of £50,000 a year for an end-of-life drug.
British cancer drugs fund changes tack: again [Reuters] "We now have a situation where some cancer drugs have been off, on, off and now back on the list of available drugs. It's extremely confusing, and for people with cancer it's also distressing."
	5.9 AACR
Q&A With Levi Garraway, MD, PhD, on Hot Topics at the International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics [CANCER RESEARCH Catalyst] I think this year is going to be perhaps a little different than prior years because discussions around immunotherapy will play a prominent role.
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
NCRI cancer conference day 3: radiotherapy, lifestyle… and a pill to prevent cancer? [Cancer Research UK] Apologising (needlessly, it turned out) for delivering a morning lecture “on physics and technology, in a German accent”, Professor Uwe Oelfke from The Institute of Cancer Research gave us a highly engaging tour of the latest developments in radiotherapy technology.
The tapeworm that turned into a tumour [Nature News & Comment] “We have a situation where a foreign organism is developing as a tumour rather than developing as an organism,” says Peter Olson, a developmental parasitologist at the Natural History Museum in London.
Man died with 'tapeworm tumours' [BBC News] Doctors said the case, detailed in the New England Journal of Medicine, was "crazy" and unusual.
	6.1 Observation
When pregnant women get cancer, what happens to their babies? [LA Times] the children of the cancer patients were different in one important respect: They were much more likely than children of healthy mothers to be born prematurely.
Rates of immediate breast reconstruction in U.S. vary by age, race [Reuters] Researchers used national surgery datasets to study more than 48,000 women who had mastectomy only, or mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction between 2005 and 2011. Overall, immediate reconstruction rates rose from 26 percent of women in 2005 to 40 percent in 2011.
	6.10 Politiques
Obama government launches drug price crackdown [Pharmafile] The subject has been at the centre of much debate, and has become one of the key issues in the ongoing presidential election candidate’s campaigns. It is a leading concern for voters, according to opinion polls.
	6.11 Patients
Breakthrough drugs are saving lives but wrenching souls [STAT] Smith said patients grow fatigued from the treatment themselves, “but it’s also depression and anxiety around the uncertainty of their prognosis. It’s like, ‘I’m feeling better again, but how long will it last? And how do you plan your life around that? Do I keep working? Do I spend it all in Las Vegas?’”