Onco Actu du 1er juin 2018

	2.5 Etiologie - Gènes
Fifty years since DNA repair was linked to cancer [Nature] There is still no cure for XP (xeroderma pigmentosum), but intensive research into the disease means that an early diagnosis can be made.
	3.1.1 Prévention - Tabac - e-cigs
World No Tobacco Day: Q&A with Mathieu Morissette and Riccardo Polosa [BMC Blogs] E-cigarettes are not risk-free, but even the most stubborn critics in the tobacco control movement now acknowledge that they are a much less harmful alternative to tobacco cigarettes.
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Organoid profiling personalizes treatments for pancreatic cancer [Cold Spring Harbor Lab] Patient-derived organoids can quickly and accurately predict how patients with pancreatic cancer respond to a variety of treatments, facilitating a precision-medicine approach to the deadly disease.
	4.5 Dép., diag. & prono. - Colorectal
Infection Rates After Colonoscopy, Endoscopy at US Specialty Centers Are Far Higher Than Previously Thought [Johns Hopkins] While the overwhelming majority of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) follow strict infection-control guidelines, says Hutfless, she and her team found infection rates at some ASCs more than 100 times higher than expected.
Many journalists fail to question new Cancer Society colorectal cancer screening guidelines [HealthNewsReview] As the New York Times noted last year, a person who was born in 1950 had a three in a million risk of developing colon cancer in their twenties, compared with a five per million risk for someone born in 1990. The risk of rectal cancer for someone in their twenties increased from 0.9 per million for those born in 1950, compared with 4 per million for someone born in 1990. Those increases are in the same ballpark as the risk of being struck by lightning.
	5. Traitements
Drugs OK’d To Hit Tumor Genes Still a Basket of One. Are More Coming? [Xconomy] One lesson: Basket studies can detect early signals of a drug’s potential effectiveness in cancers that would otherwise fly under the radar. But a drug’s effectiveness against a mutation in one cancer won’t necessarily translate across other cancers.
	5.1 Traitements - Pré-clinique
Antifungal drug eliminates sleeping bowel cancer cells in mice [Cancer Research UK] They found, for the first time, that itraconazole blocked signals from a pathway called Wnt, which is implicated in the growth and spread of many different cancers. This led to the tumours collapsing in the mice - dormant cells disappeared and the tumour stopped growing.
	5.10 Traitements - Essais
Utilizing Patient-reported Outcomes in Cancer Clinical Trials [Cancer Research Analyst] “Despite early data regarding the potential utility of using PRO measures to communicate patient-reported symptoms in real time to health care providers, the use of PROs to guide care is still not routine in clinical practice, and is rare in cancer clinical trials,” noted Kluetz.
New Treatment Approach Could Help Prevent Recurrences of Some Bladder Cancers [NCI] Flushing the bladder with the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine (Gemzar) after tumors have been removed surgically may reduce the risk of the cancer returning, according to the results of a large clinical trial.
	5.12 Immunothérapies
IDO Don’ts: After Immunotherapy Failure, Experts Say Slow Down [Xconomy] As buzz about the next promising drug combinations circulates this weekend at ASCO, the IDO story looms large. Cancer experts say the episode is a prime example of drug developers moving too fast and, at times, without scientific rationale or biological insights that might better predict success.
	5.12.1 Immunothérapies - partenariats
Despite ASCO wobble, Syndax pals up with Nektar on entinostat combo trial [FierceBiotech] It’s some welcome good news for Syndax, which needs to build confidence in entinostat after the publication of the ASCO abstracts earlier this month, and in particular a combination study of entinostat with Keytruda in non-small cell lung cancer with an 11% response rate that disappointed investors and caused its shares to slide.
Syndax and Nektar Therapeutics Announce Immuno-Oncology Clinical Trial Collaboration [Syndax] In preclinical testing, the results of which were recently presented at the 2018 American Association of Cancer Research Annual Meeting, the combination of entinostat and NKTR-214 significantly inhibited tumor growth in tumor models of kidney and colon cancer.
	5.12.2 Immunothérapies - CAR-T
FDA-Approved CAR T-Cell Therapy in WNY [Roswell Park] Roswell Park is the only cancer center outside of NYC to offer Kymriah.
TxCell names Lonza as its CAR-Treg cellular product manufacturer [TxCell] Lonza Pharma & Biotech to manufacture clinical batches of TxCell’s HLA-A2 CAR-Treg cellular product from its production site in Geleen (NL).
Tumour tamed by transfer of one T cell [Nature] The T cells of the immune system can be engineered to target a tumour, but why some people respond better than others to such therapy is unclear. One patient’s striking response to treatment now offers some clues.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
Trump says drugmakers plan to offer 'massive drops' in prices—fact or fantasy? [FiercePharma] One industry consultant told FiercePharma it'll be "business as usual" for pharma in the short term. Analysts mostly said the proposals are positive for industry.
Pfizer's Xalkori makes it onto Cancer Drugs Fund [PharmaTimes] This decision means ROS1 diagnostic testing will also be available in England. Published studies indicate ROS1-positivity to occur in less than 1% of NSCLC patients.
Crizotinib for treating ROS1-positive advanced non-small-cell lung cancer [NICE] Lung cancer patients will soon get early access to crizotinib after we recommended it for more patients via the Cancer Drugs Fund.
Leading oncology group wary of Trump drug price proposals [Reuters] Hudis said ASCO is not opposed to changing the formula, but argues that oncology practices will still need to be reimbursed for handling specialized cancer medicines delivered by infusion or injection.
Pill to treat ovarian cancer approved for use on NHS [The Guardian] Up to 850 women in England and Wales could benefit from a targeted pill that treats ovarian cancer after it was approved for use on the NHS through the Cancer Drugs Fund.
	5.5.1.2 ASCO (général) - Académiques
ASCO 2018: World’s largest cancer conference seeks to expand the reach of precision medicine [Institute of Cancer Research] The conference is aiming to ensure as many patients as possible benefit from latest advances in precision medicine – and ICR researchers are at the forefront.
	5.5.10 ASCO (hémato)
ASCO Preview: Lymphoma Presentation Highlights [Cancer Network] To be fair, we are doing so well with Hodgkin lymphoma, it’s hard to say that there is so much unmet need there compared to some of the worst types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
	5.5.15 ASCO (biopsies liquides)
Doctors welcome possible 'holy grail of cancer research' [The Guardian] Researchers said their results showed promise in the approach of blood screenings for cancer, but noted further “clinical development” was needed. The number of patients in whom cancers were detected was small. For example, although the test detected ovarian cancer with 90% accuracy, only 10 ovarian cancers in total were detected.
	5.5.16 ASCO (médecine de précision)
Beyond BRCA: Examining Links between Breast Cancer, Second Primary Cancer and Inherited Genetic Mutations [Penn Medicine] “Our data show that patients who have had multiple primary cancers should undergo genetic testing, and likely this holds true for a number of other types of second cancer,” Maxwell said. “However, the overall numbers are still low, which shows the level of uncertainty that still exists and highlights the need for further research.”
	5.9.3 EHA
AbbVie to Present New Data from Several Investigational Studies of Venetoclax as Monotherapy or in Combination for the Management of a Number of Difficult-to-Treat Blood Cancers at 23rd European Hematology Association (EHA) Annual Congress [AbbVie] Results from a sub-analysis of patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who achieved undetectable minimal residual disease in the Phase 3 MURANO investigational study of venetoclax in combination with rituximab will be featured in an oral presentation.
	6.10 Politiques
After Brexit, can British science have its cake and eat it, too? [Nature] The United Kingdom wants a part in European science programmes after Brexit, but the European Union could put a high price on it.
	6.10.1 Politiques (USA)
FDA Prepares to Implement ‘Right-to-Try’ Law [RAPS] “In the near term,” Woodcock told staff, “if you receive inquiries about the legislation from patients or physicians about a specific product, please refer them to the sponsor of the investigational drug or biological product."
‘Right-to-try’ law intended to weaken the FDA, measure’s sponsor says in blunt remarks [STAT] Even Trump, at the signing ceremony for the bill this week, suggested that Gottlieb should get to work implementing the law. “Scott, can you start immediately? We don’t want to start tomorrow,” he said to the FDA commissioner. “What time is it now? How about in 15 minutes?”
	6.6 Publications
Collect & Connect - Improved and Updated! [ORCID] Based on our experiences and member feedback, we have worked to clarify the essential requirements for each badge. Today we are re-launching the Collect & Connect program, with streamlined guidelines for implementing ORCID following our best practices.
	6.7 DMP, Big Data & applis
When Scientists Develop Products From Personal Medical Data, Who Gets To Profit? [NPR] Horton says technically, the data don't belong to the patients. "Right now as the law defines it, your medical images are property of the health system," she says. "You don't own the image."
Resolving the Productivity Paradox of Health Information Technology [JAMA] The lesson from other industries is that the productivity paradox eventually resolves, often over 1 to 2 decades. This was true both for the electrification of factories at the start of the 20th century and the digitization of manufacturing, banking, and retail at the turn of this century.
Big Data and Predictive Analytics - Recalibrating Expectations [JAMA] The potential of prediction to influence decision making also implies the potential for harm, through the dissemination of misinformation at the point of care. This potential for harm from insufficiently validated models in a profit-driven market suggests the need for oversight.
	6.9 Controverses
Who gets credit for CRISPR? Prestigious award singles out three, and leaves out a notable scientist [STAT] And in a reminder that the patent system lives in its own odd world, a scientist who has won far fewer awards for his CRISPR work, Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, nevertheless holds the key CRISPR patents, a situation that UC is hotly contesting on behalf of Doudna and Charpentier.
Elizabeth Holmes' Superpower [Forbes] If you're reading this to figure out whether to buy the book, just stop and order it now. Bad Blood is even more nuanced than Carreyrou's previous reportage, told briskly in muscular prose. I read it fast, I read it fast again, and then I read it slowly. It is simply one of the best books about a startup ever.