Onco Actu du 17 décembre 2015

	1. Biologie
Researchers take first step in precision medicine for penile cancer [University of Michigan Health System] Defining the genomic landscape reveals similarities with other squamous cell cancers.
Scientists discover how cancer cells escape blood vessels [MIT News] Cancer cells circulating in the bloodstream can stick to blood vessel walls and construct tiny “bridges” through which they inject genetic material that transforms the endothelial cells lining the blood vessels, making them much more hospitable to additional cancer cells, according to the new study.
	2. Etiologie
Cancer is not just 'bad luck' but down to environment, study suggests [BBC News] The team of doctors from the Stony Brook Cancer Centre in New York approached the problem from different angles, including computer modelling, population data and genetic approaches. They said the results consistently suggested 70-90% of the risk was due to extrinsic factors.
Cancer studies clash over mechanisms of malignancy [Nature News & Comment] Debate surrounds relative importance of environmental and intrinsic factors.
Most cancers due to 'bad luck'? Not so fast, says study [STAT] While the two studies seem to be at odds, they’re also talking past each other. The Hopkins study was about relative risks — that is, the risk of cancer in this tissue vs. that tissue. The Stony Brook study is about absolute risks, and the contributions of intrinsic and extrinsic factors.
Cancer: More than just bad luck? [LA Times] "These are interesting calculations and give us a sense of the possible range of effects," Hooker said. "However, they rely on a very simplified model of cancer mutation and the resulting numbers should at best be regarded as ballpark estimates."
Most cases of cancer are avoidable, say researchers [The Guardian] The findings clash with research published earlier this year which found that differences in cellular processes were the chief reason some tissues became cancerous more frequently than others.
Nine in 10 cancers caused by lifestyle [The Telegraph] The government even set up its ‘100,000 Genomes Project’ to try and find the genetic causes of many rare diseases and cancers. But the new study shows the project is unlikely to help the majority of cancer sufferers.
	3.1 Tabac
Active and secondhand smoking both linked to early menopause [NHS Choices] This is a big study with a lot of detailed information about smoking and fertility. But it has some important limitations. It uses quite old data taken from a study of women who were in middle age in the 1990s.
	3.3 Prévention - Vaccins
FDA Approves Expanded Age Indication for GARDASIL® 9 in Males [Merck] GARDASIL 9 Now Approved for Males 16 through 26 Years of Age for the Prevention of Anal Cancers and Genital Warts Caused by Nine HPV types.
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Why Human Genetics Research Is Full of Costly Mistakes [The Atlantic] “Reproducibility problems in clinical genetics ... have massive and real-time consequences for thousands of families.”
The science myths that will not die [Nature News & Comment] Myth 1: Screening saves lives for all types of cancer.
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
UK scientists develop new method to diagnose and monitor rare childhood cancer [Cancer Research UK] The new method takes samples of blood and cerebrospinal fluid and analyses them for tiny fragments of genetic information called microRNAs – often found in higher levels in malignant germ cell tumours.
	5. Traitements
Harnessing chemical and genomic data to fight cancer [Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard] “Together, these papers show how we can combine large-scale chemical sensitivity data and large-scale cancer cell line genomic analysis not only to find potential drug therapies, but also to illuminate the mechanisms by which these compounds are working. This is a new and powerful approach to discovering cancer drugs.”
	5.10 Traitements - Essais
Clinical Trials: NIH and the Drug Industry [In the Pipeline] So overall, I’d guess that the NIH’s clinical presence has probably tracked its budget pretty closely, whereas industry is definitely spending more. We should be glad about the number of clinical trials going on, absent more information about just how well-thought-out all of them are.
	5.2 Pharma
Array's melanoma drug clears Phase III with an FDA filing in sight [FierceBiotech] In a Phase III study on 402 patients comparing binimetinib to the chemotherapy dacarbazine, Array's candidate clocked median progression-free survival of 2.8 months compared with 1.5 months for the old drug, the company said.
Novartis hires Harvard star to plug gaps in cancer drug arsenal [Reuters] Bradner, on Dana-Farber's blood cancer staff, has helped launch several start-ups aiming to commercialize his lab's discoveries, giving Novartis hope that it has landed a research boss who combines business acumen with the scientific skills to help it regain lost ground.
Array BioPharma cancer drug succeeds in late-stage study [Reuters] Detailed results from the 402 patient trial "NEMO", which included patients who had first tried immunotherapy and those that not been previously treated, will be presented at a medical meeting next year.
Array BioPharma Announces Phase 3 Binimetinib Trial Meets Primary Endpoint For NRAS-Mutant Melanoma [Array BioPharma] The study met its primary endpoint of improving progression-free survival (PFS) compared with dacarbazine treatment. The median PFS on the binimetinib arm was 2.8 months versus 1.5 months on the dacarbazine arm.
	5.2.1 Pharma - Partenariats
With Pierre Fabre Deal, Cellectar Shifts Strategy Under New CEO [Xconomy] Cellectar on Wednesday announced it will work with French drug company Pierre Fabre to develop cancer treatments that combine “cytotoxics”—cancer-killing agents—produced by Pierre Fabre and Cellectar’s drug delivery technology.
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA,...
FDA lifts clinical hold on Advaxis' cancer compounds [Reuters] The company said it had agreed to implement some risk mitigation measures, including revised study design, patient inclusion criteria and patient surveillance measures, following discussions with the FDA.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
Bristol's drug pricing under fire as UK agency rejects Opdivo [Reuters] "There is no question that this pioneering and innovative treatment improves and extends the life of patients with non-small cell lung cancer – a disease that has very limited treatment options – but at this price it is very clearly too expensive."
Even with smaller ‘donut hole,’ Medicare cancer pill costs stay high [Reuters] “Price inflation is possible on oral cancer drugs because there is no downward pressure on price; instead there is mandatory formulary inclusion and thus mandatory payment at any rate.”
	5.7.1 SABCS-communiqués
New "Big Data" Brings Total Number of Breast Cancer Patients Studied to 50,000, Demonstrating Oncotype DX® Accurately Predicts Clinical Outcomes [Genomic Health] Presentations at SABCS from SEER Registry, TAILORx and Clalit Studies Establish Oncotype DX as the Only Multi-gene Breast Cancer Test with Industry-leading Level of Prospective Outcomes Evidence Next-generation Sequencing Gene Discovery Reveals Opportunity for Liquid Biopsy to Help Guide Late-recurrence Treatment Decisions
	5.7.2 SABCS-divers
Buparlisib May be a BELLE Only for Select Patients [The OBR Blog] Although the trial did achieve some of its primary endpoints, the modest nature of the improvements in two of these endpoints as well as inability to meet a third co-primary endpoint throws some doubt into the future prospects for buparlisib.
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
Eminent Cancer Researcher Dies [The Scientist] David Flockhart, a cancer researcher who founded one of the first institutes for personalized medicine in the U.S., died of glioblastoma multiforme—an advanced form of brain cancer—late last month (November 26). He was 63 years old.
	6.8 Communication
Opdivo commercial vs. the reality of stage IV cancer treatment [HealthNewsReview] Technically, the advertisement is accurate. Clinical trials showed that compared to a group who took conventional chemotherapy, those taking the drug nivolumab lived an average of 90 days longer. Is this a huge clinical advance? Well, it depends on your perspective.