Onco Actu du 8 avril 2016

	1. Biologie
Breaking leukemia's rhythm [Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard] New study shows that circadian rhythm circuitry is essential for acute myeloid leukemia stem cells but not healthy blood cells, suggesting possible pathways for therapeutics.
Taking on melanoma, one cell at a time [MIT News] In step toward personalized medicine, researchers are using single-cell analysis to unravel cancer’s secrets.
Cancer thwarts treatment by ‘stealing’ blood vessels [The Institute of Cancer Research] In the study, scientists used mice to examine how a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma can become resistant to an anti-angiogenic drug called sorafenib.
Cancer Cell Survival Driven by Novel Metabolic Pathway [GEN] This new study describes an alternate version of two well-known metabolic pathways, the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) and the Krebs cycle, to defend against ROS that destroy cells via oxidative stress. The findings from this study were published recently in Nature.
Metastasis: An evolving story [Science] Somewhat disappointingly, there is no evidence to date of druggable “metastasis driver genes.” Nonetheless, there are reasons to be hopeful.
	3.1 Tabac
Philip Morris wins Missouri 'lights' class action trial [Reuters] A jury in St. Louis, Missouri on Thursday rejected a request for about $1.8 billion in damages against Philip Morris USA in a class-action lawsuit that claimed the company misled smokers about the health risks of "light" cigarettes.
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Public don’t understand “overdiagnosis” [Cancer Research UK] “This is the first time anyone has looked at whether or not people in the UK understand what overdiagnosis means – and it turns out that most people are in the dark."
	4.1 Dép., diag. & prono. - Prostate
Older doctors may do more prostate cancer tests on old men [Reuters] “What is clear is that men with limited life expectancy do not benefit from PSA screening,” Trinh said. “They are much more likely to die with prostate cancer rather than from prostate cancer.”
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
'Liquid biopsy' blood test accurately detects key genetic mutations in most common form of lung cancer, study finds [Dana-Farber Cancer Institute] The liquid biopsy tested in the study – technically known as rapid plasma genotyping – involves taking a test tube-full of blood, which contains free-floating DNA from cancer cells, and analyzing that DNA for mutations or other abnormalities.
Cancer Blood Test: A $200 Billion Market or Just "A Pipe Dream"? [Bloomberg] An accurate early-detection blood test is years away and will require successful trials to convince doctors and insurers of the benefits of screening. Anything less than flawless precision could mean misdiagnoses and mistreatment.
	5. Traitements
Radiation Therapy Chemotherapy Combination Improves Survival in Adults with Low-Grade Brain Cancer [Mayo Clinic] “This is the first phase III trial to demonstrate conclusively a treatment-related survival benefit for patients with grade 2 glioma.”
Scientists identify possible double whammy to attack leukaemia [Cancer Research UK] The scientists, from the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute at the University of Manchester, studied how two drugs called trametinib and ABT-263 work in cancer cells and mice.
	5.2.1 Pharma - Partenariats
AstraZeneca and VentiRx team up for PD-L1 vax trial in ovarian cancer [FierceBiotech] The researchers expect that motolimod's activation of TLR8 will create conditions within tumors that will enhance the effects of durvalumab. When given with chemotherapy, motolimod could also boost immune responses against cancer cells that are not engaged by durvalumab.
	5.2.2 Pharma - Fusions & Acquisitions
Allergan CEO calls tax rules 'un-American,' and White House strikes back [FiercePharma] White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest quickly hit back--not only against Pfizer's effort to take advantage of Ireland's lower tax rate, but at Allergan's own "move" overseas, which put its nominal headquarters in Dublin but left most of its HQ operations back in New Jersey.
	5.2.3 Pharma - économie
Big Pharma trio drive cancer metabolism upstart to $18M Series A round [FierceBiotech] "We want to be able to show that targeting metabolic weaknesses in a cancer cell is a valuable therapeutic approach."
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA,...
FDA allows marketing of first-of-kind tissue containment system for use with certain laparoscopic power morcellators in select patients [FDA] Agency continues to warn against use of laparoscopic power morcellators for removal of uterus or uterine fibroids in the vast majority of women.
FDA approves tissue container for laparoscopic device [Reuters] The FDA said on Thursday that the PneumoLiner's label should contain a boxed warning stating that the use of these container bags does not reduce the risk of cancer that might spread through using the power morcellators.
FDA Releases Naming Guidance [Patent Docs] Far from being merely a technical aspect of the biosimilar program, this Guidance has been subject to pressures from both the innovator biologic drug makers and companies pursuing (or planning to pursue) their own biosimilar drugs.
	5.3.4 Traitements - AMM (FDA, EMA)
Giotrif® (afatinib) approved in Europe as new oral treatment option for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung [Boehringer Ingelheim] Approval of Giotrif® is based on results of the LUX-Lung 8 study, which showed significantly improved overall survival and progression-free survival compared to Tarceva® (erlotinib) in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.
CHMP Issues Positive Opinion to Include New Data in European Label for XTANDI® (enzalutamide) [Astellas] TERRAIN Trial Showed Statistically Significant PFS Improvement with Enzalutamide Versus Bicalutamide in Patients with Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer.
	5.9 AACR
​​Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, Named American Association for Cancer Research President-Elect 2016-2017 [AACR] Caligiuri is a renowned physician-scientist, known for his work in immunology that is focused on human natural killer cells and their modulation for the treatment of leukemia, myeloma, and glioblastoma.
	6.1 Observation
Cancer Incidence and Mortality Through 2020 [CDC] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist Dr Hannah Weir talks about her work to predict cancer incidence and mortality through 2020. Her predictions are based on population projections from the US Census Bureau and on national cancer surveillance data from the National Program of Cancer Registries and the National Vital Statistics System.
	6.7 DMP, Big Data & applis
FTC Issues Tool Intended to Assess Laws Governing Mobile Health Apps [FDA Law Blog] The tool consists of a series of high-level “yes” or “no” questions to be answered by the app developer.
Lessons From More Than A Decade In Patient Portals [Health Affairs] At this time of intensified debate about expectations for health information technology, we offer real-world lessons from over a decade of work with Kaiser Permanente’s patient portal — the largest private-sector patient portal in the U.S.
	6.8 Communication
5 tips for writing better health news headlines [HealthNewsReview] Fellow journalists, we feel your pain: Writing headlines for health news is difficult.