Onco Actu du 6 janvier 2017

	1. Biologie
‘Broken switch’ inside cancer cells could help them spread [Cancer Research UK] To find out more about how cancer cells move, scientists from the ICR homed in on a molecule called YAP, which allows cells to detect changes to their shape and environment. The cells use YAP to respond to these changes by latching onto their surroundings and shuffling through the tissue.
	1.1 Biologie - Gènes
AACR Project GENIE: Advancing Cancer Research Through Data Sharing [Cancer Research Catalyst] Steering committee chairperson Dr. Charles Sawyers answers questions about the project and the public release of the first set of genomic data.
AACR Project GENIE Publicly Releases Large Cancer Genomic Data Set [AACR] International consortium makes nearly 19,000 de-identified genomic and limited clinical records public to catalyze and benefit clinical cancer research and precision oncology.
	3.1 Tabac
OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Achieve Life Science, Inc. Announce Definitive Merger Agreement [OncoGenex] Proposed Merger Will Create Clinical-Stage, Biopharmaceutical Company Focused on the Development and Commercialization of Cytisine for Smoking Cessation.
Quitting Smoking Among Adults — United States, 2000–2015 [MMWR] As of 2015, approximately three in five adults who had ever smoked had quit.
Working Together Around The World To Kick The Big Tobacco Habit [Health Affairs Blog] To further support countries and public health officials in their battle against the tobacco epidemic, WHO created the technical package called MPOWER. The acronym stands for a group of policies proven to reduce tobacco use: Monitor tobacco use; Protect people from second-hand smoke; Offer help to quit; Warn about dangers of tobacco use; Enforce advertising bans; and Raise tobacco taxes.
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
GRAIL Plans to Raise in Excess of $1B in Series B Funding [Illumina] Investment by Strategic Industry Partners Would Enable GRAIL to Expand Clinical Validation of Blood Test for Early-Stage Cancer Detection.
Grail Raising $1 Billion To Fund Trials For Cancer DNA Test [Xconomy] To demonstrate that Grail’s technology works will require large-scale clinical trials that are expected to sequence hundreds of thousands of patients—and such trials are extremely expensive.
Company Will Raise $1 Billion To Create Blood Test To Detect Cancer [Forbes] As part of the announcement, Grail is also spinning out of its parent company, San Diego's Illumina, the $2.4 billion (sales) firm that makes most of the DNA sequencing machines that scientists and doctors use to study human biology, diagnose rare genetic diseases, and pick treatments for cancer patients.
	4.9 Dép., diag. & prono. - Sein
Mammogram Record Retention: FDA Offers Guidance [RAPS] Following some confusion over mammogram record retention requirements, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday told all facilities conducting such tests that they must retain a record of each one for at least five years, or not less than 10 years if no additional mammograms of the patient are performed at the facility (or a longer period if mandated by state or local law).
Were women foolish to follow Angelina Jolie into BRCA cancer gene testing? [STAT] Genetic counselors, physicians, and BRCA-positive women have lit up social media attacking the study.
	5. Traitements
Nanoparticles awaken immune cells to fight cancer [Science] This time their nanoparticles didn’t contain any additional chemotherapeutic drug. They then blasted the tumors with infrared light, and waited for the results. And in almost every case, not only was the primary breast cancer tumor destroyed, but metastases in the lung were wiped out as well.
	5.12.1 Immunothérapies - partenariats
Janssen Enters Immunotherapy Clinical Collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb to Evaluate daratumumab (DARZALEX®) in Combination with nivolumab (OPDIVO®) [Janssen] Phase 1b/Phase 2 studies planned in multiple myeloma and solid tumors.
	5.2 Pharma
Halozyme Announces Phase 2 Study In Advanced Pancreas Cancer Meets Key Endpoints [Halozyme] Study shows statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) in all evaluable patients and in patients with high levels of hyaluronan (HA), a potential new biomarker.
What Passes For Positive Data [In the Pipeline] This is cherry-picking no matter how you look at it, and Adam Feuerstein was right to call it “shameful conduct” to press-release it the way the company did. But hey, the stock bounced (or it has so far this morning), and that’s what matters, right?
Halozyme's pancreatic cancer drug succeeds in mid-stage trial [Reuters] PEGPH20 is an enzyme that targets and degrades HA, a chain of natural sugars found on human tissue that can accumulate in higher concentrations around certain cancer cells and potentially constrict blood vessels and impede other therapies.
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA, NICE...
European Commission Clears up Questions on Orphan Drug Regulation [RAPS] To qualify for orphan designation, a medicine must treat, diagnose or prevent a serious or life threatening condition that affects fewer than 5 in 10,000 people in the European Union. Additionally, there must not be any "satisfactory" treatment for the condition within the EU, or the medicine must be shown to demonstrate significant benefit to patients over existing options.
	6.1 Observation
Cancer Facts and Figures: Death Rate Down 25% Since 1991 [ACS] During the most recent decade of available data, the rate of new cancer diagnoses decreased by about 2% per year in men and stayed about the same in women. The cancer death rate declined by about 1.5% annually in both men and women.
Death rate from cancer now 25% lower than it was 25 years ago, report says [LA Times] Better treatment protocols and more targeted therapies have driven the most dramatic improvements in the survival of patients with malignancies of the blood and lymph system, says the American Cancer Society’s annual report card on cancer.
	6.5 Médecines alternatives
Selling an alternative medicine cancer cure testimonial as an “N-of-1” trial: Integrative medicine’s new propaganda technique? [Respectful Insolence] Yes, there is a role for “N-of-1” trials in conventional science-based medicine, but it’s still controversial how useful and rigorous they can be, when and under what circumstances they should be used, and how they should be designed.