Onco Actu du 24 avril 2018

	1. Biologie
Researchers find five sub-types of the brain cancer glioma [Institute of Cancer Research] ICR researchers, with colleagues in France, studied DNA from more than 1,600 people with glioma for three early forming genetic mutations in the disease.
	3.4 Chimioprévention
Six in seven women at high risk of breast cancer shun tamoxifen as a preventative measure [Cancer Research UK] Researchers asked 258 healthy women across England who had been identified as having an increased risk of the disease whether they had agreed to take the drug to help prevent breast cancer developing, and interviewed 16 women to identify what influenced their decision to take it.
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
In the Era of Precision Medicine and Big Data, Who Is Normal? [JAMA] Who should define normality and using which criteria? When should standardized efforts be used across populations and instrumentation? How can multiplicity across myriad population strata be overcome as the normal population becomes more precise and personalized?
	4.7 Dép., diag. & prono. - Col de l'utérus
How to redesign the vaginal speculum [The Guardian] The number of women going for cervical tests is at its lowest in 19 years. An all-women team at the US design firm behind early Apple computers hopes that replacing the 19th-century metal tool with their silicone model will help change that.
	5. Traitements
A Drug To Treat Cancer And Heart Disease (Miracle Cure Or Media Hype?) [Forbes] Mukherjee didn’t write about the drug because of its ability to prevent heart attacks or strokes. Instead, he was excited about the trial because a secondary analysis of the data showed a “drop in all cancer mortality” and a “stark decrease” in deaths from lung cancer. Mukherjee knows that secondary analyses like this need to be viewed with caution.
	5.10 Traitements - Essais
Take with Food: Study Tests Lowering Dose of Prostate Cancer Drug [NCI] In the small clinical trial, Mark Ratain, M.D., of the University of Chicago, and his colleagues tested whether they could exploit what is known as the food effect to reduce the needed dose of abiraterone, a standard treatment for men with metastatic prostate cancer.
	5.12 Immunothérapies
Remote-Control Shoots Laser at Nano-Gold to Turn on Cancer-Killing Immune Cells [Georgia Tech] Bioengineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have installed a heat-sensitive switch into T-cells that can activate the T-cells when heat turns the switch on. The method, tested in mice and published in a new study, is locally targeted and could someday help turn immunotherapy into a precision instrument in the fight against cancer.
	5.12.3 Immunothérapies-combinaisons
AstraZeneca reports results from the ARCTIC trial in third-line non-small cell lung cancer [AstraZeneca] “While we are disappointed that the combination of Imfinzi plus tremelimumab did not result in a statistically-significant survival benefit in this heavily pre-treated patient population, we are encouraged by the activity of Imfinzi monotherapy observed in this trial and look forward to presenting the full data from the ARCTIC trial at an upcoming medical meeting.”
AstraZeneca third-line lung cancer combination study fails [Reuters] The disappointing results from the so-called ARCTIC study, announced on Tuesday, are a fresh setback for the idea of using two immunotherapy drugs together. The Phase III ARCTIC study was testing a combination of Imfinzi and tremelimumab.
Combination immunotherapy may have failed in the Incyte/Merck trial, but it’s here to stay [STAT] Some of the most well-known biomarkers are tumor specific: PD-L1 for kidney, lung, bladder cancer and melanoma; BRCA for breast cancer; BRAF for melanoma; and HER-2 for breast cancer. But to get the full understanding of what treatment is best for an individual patient, we also need to focus on immune-specific biomarkers such as regulatory T cells, natural killer cells, myeloid derived suppressor cells, and others.
	5.15 ESTRO
Targeted radiotherapy for breast cancer offers good quality of life and fewer side effects [ESTRO] The researchers plan a ten-year follow-up of women in the trial to see if quality of life remains good and to see if there is any difference in cancer recurrence between the two treatments.
Shorter courses of prostate cancer radiotherapy are safe and effective, and they could save patients’ time and reduce hospital waiting lists [ESTRO] Researchers say this method of giving radiotherapy saves time for patients. It also frees up radiotherapy equipment, saving money and benefiting other patients on the waiting list for treatment.
Correcting tiny differences in patient’s position for radiotherapy treatments could increase their survival chances [ESTRO] These differences of only a few millimetres can mean that the radiation treatment designed to target patients’ tumours can move fractionally closer to the heart, where it can cause unintentional damage and reduce survival chances.
Brachytherapy for cervical cancer patients does not increase the risk of ureteral stricture [ESTRO] “These results from the EMBRACE and retro-EMBRACE trials provide reassuring evidence on the benefits of combining interstitial and intracavitary brachytherapy to treat cervical cancer patients."
Handgrip strength test is a good indicator of survival in non-small cell lung cancer patients [ESTRO] In a study of 226 patients who were about to be treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) at the MAASTRO Clinic in Maastricht (The Netherlands), researchers found that weak handgrip strength was an independent indicator of life expectancy providing additional information to the World Health Organisation (WHO) performance status.
Elderly non-small cell lung cancer patients are less likely to benefit from treatment with simultaneous radio- and chemotherapy [ESTRO] “These results indicate that the standard treatment for lung cancer patients may not result in the best outcomes for elderly patients,” said Dr van Loon.
	5.2 Pharma
Ex-Roche scientist Reed to head Sanofi R&D as Zerhouni retires [Reuters] Zerhouni has been Sanofi’s head of global research and development (R&D) for the past nine years. During his tenure he took steps to improve R&D productivity, but Sanofi has still struggled to find enough new products to offset the impact of weak diabetes drug sales, prompting the company to seek growth from outside.
Epizyme Provides Update Regarding Tazemetostat Clinical Program [Epizyme] The partial clinical hold was initiated following a safety report, submitted by Epizyme to the FDA and other regulatory authorities, regarding a patient with advanced poorly differentiated chordoma in the company’s Phase 1 pediatric study who developed a secondary T-cell lymphoma.
FDA orders a partial hold on Epizyme’s lead cancer drug tazemetostat following T-cell lymphoma case [EndPoints] Last summer at ASCO, as the biotech was looking to blaze an accelerated pathway to an approval, investigators disappointed analysts with their latest set of responses in a Phase II for epithelioid sarcoma.
European Medicines Agency Validates Type II Variation for Merck’s KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) in Combination with Pemetrexed (ALIMTA®) and Platinum Chemotherapy as First-Line Therapy in Metastatic Nonsquamous NSCLC, Based on Phase 3 KEYNOTE-189 Trial [Merck] The application was accepted for review based on overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) data from the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-189 trial, which were recently presented at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) 2018 Annual Meeting and published simultaneously in The New England Journal of Medicine.
	5.2.2 Pharma - Fusions & Acquisitions
Takeda Can't Kick Its Shire Habit [Bloomberg] With the Japanese drug market shrinking, this pursuit is about long-term survival.
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA, NICE...
FDA to Pfizer: To win OK for Herceptin biosimilar, fork over more 'technical' info [FiercePharma] Aside from regulatory and manufacturing stumbles, Pfizer faces a legal challenge from Roche, which is seeking to protect billions in U.S. sales for Herceptin.
Conflict of Interest Among Public Speakers at FDA Advisory Committees [Penn LDI] Overall, 67.9% of speakers supported drug approvals. Support for drug approval was significantly higher (86%) among speakers with prior conflicts of interest. Using a logistic regression, McCoy and colleagues estimate that speakers with a disclosed COI are six times more likely to voice support for drug approval than speakers with none.
Pfizer Provides Update on Proposed Trastuzumab Biosimilar [Pfizer] Pfizer is working closely with the FDA to address the contents of the letter and remains committed to bringing this important medicine to patients in the U.S.
FDA declines to approve Pfizer's biosimilar to Roche's cancer drug [Reuters] The company said the information requested by the FDA does not relate to safety or clinical data submitted in the application.
	5.3.4 Traitements - AMM (FDA, EMA,...)
MYLOTARG™ Approved In The EU For The Treatment Of Previously Untreated, De Novo, CD33-positive Acute Myeloid Leukemia In Combination With Chemotherapy [Pfizer] “This important milestone is a result of close collaboration between Pfizer and clinical investigators around the world, particularly the ALFA investigators in France, who believed in the promise of this therapy. We thank all of the investigators, nurses and patients who participated in these studies.”
	5.9.4 AACR - poumon
Researchers Report Advances in Lung Cancer Immunotherapy [ACS] Results from these 3 studies were also published April 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
	5.9.5 AACR - CAR-T
AACR Annual Meeting 2018: Off-the-shelf CAR T-cell Immunotherapy – Are we There Yet? [Cancer Research Catalyst] While efforts from these labs to produce off-the-shelf CAR T-cell products appear promising, it is important to note that we are several steps removed from having an off-the-shelf product that patients can be treated with in a clinic.
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
Study: Winning an Early-Career Research Grant Begets More Funding [The Scientist] The relationship is independent of grantees’ scientific accomplishments.
Biden shakes Salk with powerful plea for more cancer cooperation [La Jolla Light] Biden begged the assembled researchers, volunteers and biomedical VIPs not only to search for new treatments but to “also help us solve some of these institutional problems that prevent what is already at hand from saving lives.”
Revolutionizing Precision Oncology through Collaborative Proteogenomics and Data Sharing [Cell] The integration of proteomics into precision oncology presents opportunities that may transform the molecular analysis of cancer and accelerate basic and clinical cancer research. This Commentary discusses the importance of international collaboration and data sharing inspired by the Cancer Moonshot to accelerate the progress of multi-omic precision medicine–an approach that addresses the global diversity of people and of cancers.
	6.1 Observation
No increased risk of recurrence in breast cancer after reconstruction with abdominal tissue [Karolinsk Institutet] The current study included 254 patients who all underwent surgery using the DIEP flap method at Karolinska University Hospital Solna 1999-2013. Each patient was matched with up to three patients in a control group including 729 patients, all of whom had removed a breast without any secondary reconstructive surgery.