Onco Actu du 11 mai 2016

	1. Biologie
Research discovers mechanism that causes cancer cells to escape from the immune system [Texas A&M Health Science Center] “We found the major mechanism of how cancer cells escape from our immune system and form tumors,” said Koichi Kobayashi, M.D., Ph.D., professor at the Texas A&M College of Medicine and a lead author on the PNAS article. The discovery indicates NLRC5 as a novel biomarker for cancer patient survival and therapeutic response, as well as a potential target for new treatments.
New research gives deeper understanding of why some breast cancers are hard to treat [Cancer Research UK] The findings add a more detailed layer of information to METABRIC, a major study involving 2,000 patients in 2012 which revealed breast cancer can be classified as 10 diseases or sub types.
	3.1 Tabac
FDA’s Final Deeming Regulations Covers all “Tobacco Products” [FDA Law Blog] Although FDA expressed great confidence in its ability to review the avalanche of premarket submissions that it is about to receive, its recent history might suggest some degree of skepticism.
	5. Traitements
Residual Disease in Oncogene-Driven Solid Tumours [ESMO] They propose a shift from the current reactive paradigm of analyzing and treating acquired drug resistance to a pre-emptive paradigm of defining the mechanisms that result in residual disease, to target and limit the residual cells.
	5.12.3 Immunothérapies-combinaisons
Pfizer to trial triple-threat cancer cocktail therapy [FierceBiotech] The cocktail of three immunotherapies comes from its $850 million deal struck with Germany’s Merck back in 2014--and will see it use Merck's PD-L1 treatment avelumab and two further treatments: uomilumab and another code-named OX40.
	5.2.1 Pharma - Partenariats
What makes tumours tick? Genomics pave the way for tailored treatments [The Guardian] Cancer Research UK is funding the National Lung Matrix Study, also supported by the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, drug makers AstraZeneca and Pfizer and the University of Birmingham.
	5.2.3 Pharma - économie
Mutual Fund Industry to Drugmakers: Stand Up and Defend Yourself [Bloomberg] Funds urged drugmakers to defend industry amid public bashing.
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA,...
Public wary of faster approvals of new drugs, STAT-Harvard poll finds [STAT] A majority of Americans opposes federal regulatory changes to speed up the development and approval of new medical treatments, a new STAT-Harvard poll finds — suggesting the public has serious doubts about legislation now moving through Congress.
	5.3.4 Traitements - AMM (FDA, EMA)
FDA expands Imbruvica's label to include survival data [Pharma Times] The approved label now includes overall survival data from the Phase III RESONATE-2 trial in treatment-naïve CLL/SLL patients 65 years or older, which showed a statistically significant 56 percent reduction in the risk of death in those taking the drug compared to chlorambucil, after a median follow-up of 28.1 months.
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
NIH plans overhaul of clinical center leadership [Science] NIH now says it will “begin a nationwide search for a physician CEO with proven experience in management of a complex inpatient and outpatient facility.” One challenge the agency’s recruitment effort may face is that salaries at NIH are well below what a hospital CEO would receive in the private sector.
Staff at Baidu cancer death scandal hospital in China disciplined: China Daily [Reuters] Before his death, student Wei Zexi, 21, criticized the military-run hospital for misleading claims about the effectiveness of the treatment he received and accused China's biggest search engine Baidu Inc of promoting false medical information.
	6.1 Observation
Breast cancer patients who lack knowledge about their own tumor are less likely to receive recommended treatment, study finds [Dana-Farber Cancer Institute] She notes that although the link between knowledge and appropriate treatment was confirmed by the study’s results, the direction of that link is unclear. In other words, are women apt to receive the recommended treatment because they’re knowledgeable about their disease, or are they knowledgeable about their disease because they’ve received the recommended treatment?
	6.10 Politiques
US senator introduces a ‘Right to Try’ bill for desperate patients [STAT] The legislation, which joins a companion bill that was introduced in the House last summer, would prohibit the federal government, including the US Food and Drug Administration, from taking any action to prevent patient access.
After the elections, how are the devolved nations planning to tackle cancer? [Cancer Research UK] As the dust settles on last week’s polls, newly elected members will take their seats at the Scottish Parliament, and in the Assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland.
	6.7 DMP, Big Data & applis
Big Data’s Big Implications for Cancer Treatments [GEN] Data Mining Unearths Pathways and Networks That Yield Clinical Gold.
	6.8 Communication
John Oliver teaches us how to interpret medical and scientific studies [Respectful Insolence] I love how Oliver says near the end that if a talk show is going to say “a study says,” it should also have to provide sourcing and context or not mention it at all. Of course, that will never happen. That’s why medicine and science bloggers like me will never lack for topics.
	6.9 Controverses
Big drug maker presses for money-back guarantee that its science will work [STAT] The next time you take a Merck medicine and it doesn’t work, don’t expect a refund. The drug maker doesn’t offer a money-back guarantee. But there are times, a high-ranking Merck official believes, when the company deserves to get its own money back.
The Imprinter of All Maladies [it is NOT junk] Biologists now invoke epigenetics to explain all manner of observations that lie outside their current ken. Epigenetics pops up frequently among non-scientists in all manner of discussions about heredity. And all manner of crackpots slap “epigenetics” on their fringy ideas to give them a veneer of credibility.