Onco Actu du 26 octobre 2017

	1. Biologie
Brain tumours’ shared metabolic tricks hint at new approach to treatment [Cancer Research UK] What was even more perplexing for the scientists was the finding that the brain metastases also seemed to share these patterns in their metabolism, even though they began in completely different parts of the body. The tumours that they had spread from included lung, breast, oesophageal and kidney cancers.
	1.4 Biologie - Technos
CRISPR hacks enable pinpoint repairs to genome [Nature] Precision tools expand the number of ‘base editors’ available for manipulating DNA and RNA.
CRISPR toolbox gets two new molecular gadgets, boosting gene-editing [STAT] Together, the discoveries, described in separate studies, show that five years after scientists demonstrated that CRISPR can edit DNA, bioengineers are still racing to develop the most efficient, precise, versatile — and therefore lucrative — genome-editing tools possible.
CRISPR-based method allows for reversible RNA editing [FierceBiotech] The Broad researchers plan to make a more efficient version of their system, REPAIRv2, and create a delivery system to deploy it in animal models.
'Chemical surgery' can correct genetic mutations behind many diseases – study [The Guardian] Fresh DNA base editing breakthrough brings hope of potential treatment for huge number of diseases that arise as a result of a single genetic ‘misspelling’.
Base Editing Now Able to Convert Adenine-Thymine to Guanine-Cytosine [The Scientist] With the arrival of a new class of single-nucleotide editors, researchers can target the most common type of pathogenic SNP in humans.
CRISPR Pioneer Zhang Details New Editing System Downstream From DNA [Xconomy] The system, which the Broad team calls REPAIR, uses a different version of the Cas enzyme, which acts as molecular scissors.
CRISPR 2.0 Is Here, and It’s Way More Precise [MIT Technology Review] It could one day be used to treat a range of inherited diseases.
Novel CRISPR-derived ‘base editors’ surgically alter DNA or RNA, offering new ways to fix mutations [Science] "It's both scientifically short-sighted and long-term incorrect to conclude that base editing is going to be a better way to do human genetic therapy," Liu says. What's already clear, however, is that powerful alternatives to standard CRISPR are now in the game.
Researchers Unveil New Techniques For Editing Genes [Forbes] The paper shows that editing of the RNA with CRISPR is possible. But outside researchers said they were not sure if the technique would prove useful.
	5. Traitements
Proton therapy may be better option for elderly patients with esophageal cancer [Mayo Clinic] Researchers followed 571 patients treated with traditional radiation therapy and chemotherapy followed by surgery at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Maryland Cancer Center from 2007 to 2013.
	5.1 Traitements - Pré-clinique
A rare disease inspires Stanford researchers to find a new way to attack cancer [Stanford] Then Bertozzi got a fortuitous tip from another HHMI investigator colleague that led her to a possible role for NGLY1 – and an idea for how to prevent cancer cells from becoming resistant to protease inhibitor drugs.
	5.12 Immunothérapies
Fred Hutch researchers engineer complex TCR immunotherapy that may target relapsing leukemia [Fred Hutch] The findings, published online in the journal Blood, provide the basis for launching a first-in-human clinical trial of this new immunotherapy, which relies on engineered T-cell receptors, or TCRs.
	5.12.1 Immunothérapies - partenariats
Incyte pays MacroGenics $150M for PD-1 inhibitor [FierceBiotech] Incyte is already testing its IDO1 inhibitor epacadostat in combination with checkpoint inhibitors from Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Going forward, it will be able to develop and sell its drugs together with MGA012, provided it matches up to competitors already on the market. That isn’t a certainty, a fact Incyte has already learned the hard way.
	5.12.2 Immunothérapies - CAR-T
With FDA Approval for Advanced Lymphoma, Second CAR T-Cell Therapy Moves to the Clinic [NCI] Approximately half of the patients had a complete response to the treatment—that is, their cancer disappeared completely. And nearly 30% of patients had a partial response, some reduction in the extent of their disease.
	5.2 Pharma
Terminated Blood Cancer Drug Springs Back to Life at SD Biotech [Xconomy] In 2010, the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi acquired TargeGen and assumed the task of bringing fedratinib to market. But Sanofi ended its work on the drug in 2013, after the FDA called a halt on development when some patients developed complications that raised safety concerns.
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA, NICE...
Sandoz raises questions with FDA draft guidance on statistical approaches for biosimilars [EndPoints] “Strict adherence to equivalence testing for Tier 1 attributes makes biosimilar development a gamble. Justifications which may overrule a failed equivalence test should be added in the guidance.”
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
Stand Up To Cancer Launches Four Teams on “Cancer Interception” To Detect and Treat Cancer at Earliest Stages [AACR] SU2C, the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, LUNGevity, and American Lung Association’s LUNG FORCE Commit $16.6 Million to New Approach.
National Survey Reveals Most Americans Are Unaware of Key Cancer Risk Factors [ASCO] First annual National Cancer Opinion Survey, established by ASCO, also shows strong support for greater research investment but access to care is limited for some Americans due to high costs.
	6.1 Observation
Cancer patients diagnosed at an earlier stage are more likely to have surgery than chemotherapy [Cancer Research UK] In a world-first, the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), in partnership with Cancer Research UK, have used data from England to see which treatments are being used across all types of cancer, for the whole population.
Depression, fatigue tied to more hospital stays for terminal cancer [Reuters] Overall, these unplanned hospitalizations lasted an average of 6.3 days, but stays were longer when patients were depressed. Within 90 days of being sent home, 43 percent of the patients were hospitalized again; repeat hospitalizations were more common among people with anxiety.
	6.10.1 Politiques (USA)
Key legislator tells Trump officials to back off on proposed overhead spending cap for NIH [Science] Cole invited four senior academic research administrators—three of whom work at institutions that are major recipients of NIH funding—to explain how they depend on indirect costs to supplement the research funds their faculty members bring in.
	6.6 Publications
Widely used U.S. government database delists cancer journal [Retraction Watch] Oncotarget has been on our radar for some time.
Global co-authors on more than half of French and UK research [Times Higher Education] Canada and Germany also boast high levels of cross-border collaboration, Elsevier data show.
	6.9 Controverses
Innovation in research provides benefits to society and the economy… but how do we measure it? [Institute of Cancer Research] Dr Angela Kukula, the ICR’s Director of Enterprise, says that innovation in academic research is key to unlocking benefits to society and the economy – but cautions that measuring it is much trickier than just counting patents or profits.