Onco Actu du 11 janvier 2018

	1. Biologie
Epigenetics: How It Works And What It Means for Cancer Research [Dana-Farber Cancer Institute] As scientists map ever more of the epigenetic disruptions that occur in cancer, the implications for cancer therapy are becoming increasingly evident. Unlike genetic mutations, epigenetic changes are potentially reversible.
	3.1 Prévention - Tabac
7 in 10 people who try a cigarette become daily smokers, study suggests [Cancer Research UK] Based on survey results from 4 different countries – including the UK – the findings highlight how addictive tobacco cigarettes are, and the importance of ensuring that stop smoking services are made available to help people quit.
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Chromosomal Instability in Cancer [ESMO] Development of robust biomarkers enabling the full extent of chromosomal instability dynamics is crucial to leverage its potential for patient stratification and for exploiting this feature for direct therapeutic intervention.
	4.1 Dép., diag. & prono. - Prostate
£100 gene tests could identify men with three times the chance of deadly prostate cancer [The Telegraph] The discovery by US scientists means such men could be closely monitored, and targeted for screening, with thousands more saved from needless tests, biopsies and treatment.
	5. Traitements
AI in drug discovery is overhyped: examples from AstraZeneca, Harvard, Stanford and Insilico Medicine [The AI Lab] I am only talking about the tip of the iceberg here, the situation is often worse elsewhere. For example, I won’t even talk about companies like IBM Watson, who overhype their proprietary solutions. This secrecy helps them escape public criticism, until they are caught up by the reality.
Objections to (Some) Drug Discovery AI [In the Pipeline] I doubt very strongly that I’m going to turn into a neural-network programmer, but I don’t want to just ignore all that stuff, either, because it could change very drastically by the next time I get around to paying attention!
	5.12.2 Immunothérapies - CAR-T
Bluebird hopes for 3 drug approvals by 2019, including CAR-T and gene therapies [EndPoints] The CAR-T was the star of ASH when blurbird reported extremely high response and remission rates with good safety in a small study. Leschly said Celgene will file for US and European approval of the therapy by the end of 2019.
	5.12.3 Immunothérapies-combinaisons
Genentech, Syndax expand HDAC-PD-L1 combination pact [FierceBiotech] The study will form part of the phase Ib/II adaptive platform set up by Roche to cut the time and resources needed assess the efficacy of drug combinations. Success would expand the list of breast cancers in which checkpoint inhibitors have shown promise.
Genentech adds a new program for Syndax’s lead cancer drug to its Tecentriq combo platform [EndPoints] The cancer drug giant set up a program called Morpheus for these combos. Now their researchers will use the combination therapy to treat metastatic HR+, HER2- breast cancer.
	5.2 Pharma
Novartis appoints Elizabeth Barrett as Oncology Head [Novartis] Mrs. Barrett has held numerous leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry as well as in the consumer sector. In her most recent role at Pfizer, she led the oncology business through a significant period of growth achieved in less than three years.
GSK’s long-quiet cancer R&D group is ready to make some noise as it mounts a breakout late-stage effort [EndPoints] The star program belongs to a BCMA antibody-drug conjugate titled GSK2857916, newly equipped with the FDA’s breakthrough designation for the hardest cases of multiple myeloma.
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA, NICE...
CDER Report on Novel Approvals Highlights Firsts in 2017 [RAPS] But for the FDA critics who complain that the agency is too slow or falling behind its foreign regulatory peers, CDER points to the fact that 100% of new drugs were approved within the timelines set by the user fee agreements, 61% were designated in one or more expedited categories of Fast Track, Breakthrough, Priority Review and/or Accelerated Approval, and 78% (36 of 46) were approved in the US before any other country.
Federal Right-to-Try Legislation — Threatening the FDA’s Public Health Mission [NEJM] Are we prepared to abandon the FDA’s gatekeeping role in favor of unfettered patient autonomy and market forces, risking precisely the problems that prompted Congress to grant the FDA its present authority?
	5.9.5 IASLC
Chemoradiation in Elderly Patients with Stage III NSCLC Improves Overall Survival [IASLC] To our knowledge, our study represents the largest reported cohort of elderly stage III NSCLC patients not treated surgically. We found that CRT is superior to definitive RT in elderly patients with stage III NSCLC not treated surgically.
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
Many women uninformed about breast cancer surgery options [Reuters] In the survey, only 47 percent of lumpectomy patients, 67 percent of mastectomy patients, and 28 percent of women who had both procedures said they felt completely informed before they had these surgeries, Mitchell and colleagues found.
	6.1 Observation
New treatments, screening methods dramatically reduce breast cancer deaths [Stanford Medicine] Using knowledge of how breast cancer advances, they developed models representing how many women would die of the cancer with no screening and no treatments, then simulated the effect of screening and treatment on those mortality numbers.
Cancer Deaths Continue to Decline [Science-Based Medicine] This data does not fit the fearmongering narrative that we often confront on SBM, that the toxic bogeyman de jour is making us sick. There is no increase due to GMOs, vaccines, pesticides, or toxins in food. Cancer rates are driven by smoking and other tobacco use, hepatitis C, UV light, and other known risk factors.
	6.6 Publications
Why Elsevier is a Library’s Best Friend [The Scholarly Kitchen] This is the basic trade-off: libraries have won administrative efficiencies in exchange for the negotiating leverage of the largest publishers. It sounds crazy, but it’s a win-win situation. The losers? Small publishers, who cannot operate at the scale of Elsevier and its peers and that have trouble getting libraries’ attention.
Funders should mandate open citations [Nature] The two most authoritative sources of citation data are Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science, which grew from the Science Citation Index created by Eugene Garfield in 1964, and Elsevier’s Scopus, launched in 2004. Neither is open or comprehensive.
A Big Brother future for science publishing? [BMJ] But how, I wondered, can Elsevier continue to make such big profits from science publishing? Now, I think I see. The company thinks that there will be one company supplying publishing services to scientists—just as there is one Amazon, one Google, and one Facebook; and Elsevier aims to be that company.
	6.7 DMP, Big Data & applis
CancerLinQ LLC Partners with the National Society of Genetic Counselors [ASCO] Society Brings Experience Helping Patients Make Genetic Health Decisions to ASCO’s CancerLinQ® Platform.