Onco Actu du 28 août 2018

	1. Biologie
Breast cancer breakthrough: some tumours can stop their own spread [Garvan Institute] The findings, uncovered in mice and patient tumours, are published in Nature Cell Biology today. They reveal a previously unseen ‘ecosystem’ in advanced breast cancer, in which the primary breast tumour emits signals that halt the growth of secondary tumours elsewhere in the body.
	3.1.1 Prévention - Tabac - e-cigs
Almost one in 20 U.S. adults now use e-cigarettes [Reuters] Roughly 10.8 million American adults are currently using e-cigarettes, and more than half of them are under 35 years old, a U.S. study suggests.
	4.2 Dép., diag. & prono. - Génome
With Rehm as Chief Genomics Officer, MGH Starts Studying Utility of WGS, Plans Genomic Risk Clinic [Genome Web] Physician education is going to be a big part of the effort. This will involve explaining to doctors which indications tend to have a genetic component and what the right test is for each.
	5. Traitements
Institute for Clinical and Economic Review Report Finds Evidence Inadequate to Distinguish the Clinical Benefits of Different Antiandrogen Therapies for Men with Nonmetastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer [ICER] The lack of long-term survival data and the absence of head-to-head trials limits our ability to compare the effectiveness of enzalutamide with that of the newer drug apalutamide. For abiraterone, we have less certainty in its added benefits when used before cancer progression is detected, making it even more difficult to judge how its effectiveness matches up with the other treatment options.
	5.1 Traitements - Pré-clinique
Mass. General study defines mechanisms behind focused-ultrasound-assisted treatment of brain tumors [Mass. General Hospital] Their report published in PNAS uses advanced microcopy techniques and mathematical modeling to track the potential of this promising, minimally invasive treatment approach in an animal model of breast cancer brain metastasis.
Exploring cancer metabolism [MIT News] “If one wants to develop drugs that target metabolism, one really needs to focus on the context in which it’s happening, which is the environment of the cell plus the genetics of the cell,” he says. “That is what defines the sensitivity to drugs.”
Additional Inhibitor Can Help Anti-VEGF Therapy Overcome Resistance in Deadly Brain Cancer [Penn Medicine] The study not only identifies PDGF as a combination target for anti-VEGF therapies, but it also shows that pairing makes tumors more sensitive to anti-VEGF therapies in mice.
	5.12.1 Immunothérapies - partenariats
Cancer powerhouse Genentech lines up an NK and T cell alliance with Affimed that’s loaded with billions in biobucks [EndPoints] I last reported on Affimed in the wake of the European Hematology Association meeting last June, when its stock was banged up after the biotech noted that its lead drug AFM13, an NK cell engager candidate, had hit its target on 16 of 18 patients.
	5.12.2 Immunothérapies - CAR-T, thérapies cellulaires
Novartis wins a key OK for Kymriah, but continuing manufacturing woes hobble rollout — rival Gilead CAR-T breaks into Europe [EndPoints] But after recording only $16 million in sales for Q2, the big question looming for Novartis is why patients would want to take a risk with their therapy if another provider comes into the market which can do better on a complex task: extracting T cells from patients, modifying them and then infusing patients with a therapeutic punch?
	5.12.5 Immunothérapies - Pharma
Withdrawal of Application for a Change to the EU Marketing Authorisation for Nivolumab [ESMO] It was expected to be used to treat also gastric cancer, including gastro-oesophageal junction cancer.
	5.12.6 Immunothérapies - AMM
Yescarta® (Axicabtagene Ciloleucel) Receives European Marketing Authorization for the Treatment of Relapsed or Refractory DLBCL and PMBCL, After Two or More Lines of Systemic Therapy [Gilead] “Axicabtagene ciloleucel is a new and exciting way of treating cancer that offers a new option to patients with DLBCL and PMBCL in Europe,” said Professor Gilles Salles, Head of Hematology, South Lyon Hospital Complex.
	5.12.8 Immunothérapies - Economie
Harbour BioMed follows cancer drug deals with a hefty $85M Series B backed by Singapore’s GIC [EndPoints] A week ago Harbour acquired exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize a PD-L1 agent outside of greater China from from Chengdu-based Kelun biotech — one of at least 22 PD-1/L1 agents in development in China and another spark in the global explosion of checkpoint inhibitors.
	5.2 Pharma
The Future of Medicine May Land Within Five to 10 Years, Crispr Inventor Says [Bloomberg] Doudna, a co-founder of Editas and Intellia and other Crispr startups, says the findings aren’t surprising because gene editing is “intrinsically an error-prone process” that doesn’t always work in the desired way. She cautions, however, that it’s hard to know how those lab results will translate into clinically meaningful data.
CRISPR biotech Editas to lose CMO as it continues push for clinical trials [FierceBiotech] Editas Medicine is to lose its chief medical officer at the end of the year, as the search is on for a new clinical leader.
Bayer submits European marketing authorization application for larotrectinib for the treatment of TRK fusion cancer [Bayer] In May 2018, Larotrectinib was granted Priority Review by the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors harboring a NTRK gene fusion.
	5.2.3 Pharma - économie
Y-mAbs Plans IPO to Advance Two Pediatric Cancer Drugs to the FDA [Xconomy] Y-mAbs, founded in 2015, is led by CEO Claus Juan Møller San Pedro, who was a co-founder of Danish biotech Genmab. The Y-mAbs cancer drugs were licensed from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, which stands to gain milestone payments as the drugs progress, and royalties from sales if any of them are approved.
Y-mAbs preps $92M IPO to push lead assets through regulatory filing [FierceBiotech] Naxitamab and omburtamab, previously called burtomab, are both in pivotal phase 2 studies, the former in relapsed/refractory high-risk neuroblastoma and the latter in central nervous system/leptomeningeal metastases from neuroblastoma. Both are pediatric indications.
	5.3.4 Traitements - AMM (FDA, EMA,...)
AbbVie, Johnson & Johnson grab another Imbruvica nod with early OK in rare blood cancer [FiercePharma] In the study, dubbed Innovate, investigators recorded a 30-month progression-free survival figure of 82% for patients on the drug combo, compared with 28% for patients on Rituxan alone.
U.S. FDA Approves IMBRUVICA (ibrutinib) Plus Rituximab as First Non-Chemotherapy Combination Regimen for Patients with Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia, a Rare Blood Cancer [Janssen] IMBRUVICA plus rituximab showed significant improvement in progression-free survival at 30 months and demonstrated superiority versus rituximab monotherapy in WM.
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
Returning Individual Research Results to Participants Guidance for a New Research Paradigm (2018) [National Academies Press] "Returning Individual Research Results to Participants" reviews the current evidence on the benefits, harms, and costs of returning individual research results, while also considering the ethical, social, operational, and regulatory aspects of the practice.
	6.5 Médecines alternatives
Confronting homeopathy, naturopathy, homeopathy, and other quackademic medicine at my alma mater [Science-Based Medicine] Several years back, I was forced to confront quackery at my alma mater in the form of an anthroposophic medicine program at the University of Michigan. The situation has deteriorated since then, as now the Department of Family Medicine there is inviting homeopaths to give talks and teaching acupuncture as credulously as any acupuncturist. Will the disease metastasize to other departments in the university? I certainly hope not.
	6.6 Publications
The Science Behind Social Science Gets Shaken Up—Again [Wired] An attempt to replicate some of the decade's best research shows some of it … doesn’t.
In Psychology And Other Social Sciences, Many Studies Fail The Reproducibility Test [NPR] "The way to get ahead and get a job and get tenure is to publish lots and lots of papers," says Gervais. "And it's hard to do that if you are able run fewer studies, but in the end I think that's the way to go — to slow down our science and be more rigorous up front."
‘Generous’ approach to replication confirms many high-profile social science findings [Science] Called the Social Sciences Replication Project, it is the latest bid by the nonprofit Center for Open Science (COS) in Charlottesville, Virginia, and far-flung collaborators to quality check the scientific literature.
Attempt to replicate major social scientific findings of past decade fails [The Guardian] Scientists and the design of experiments under scrutiny after a major project fails to reproduce results of high profile studies.
Online Bettors Can Sniff Out Weak Psychology Studies [The Atlantic] Beyond statistical issues, it strikes me that several of the studies that didn’t replicate have another quality in common: newsworthiness. They reported cute, attention-grabbing, whoa-if-true results that conform to the biases of at least some parts of society.
Evaluating the replicability of social science experiments in Nature and Science between 2010 and 2015 [Nature Human Behaviour] We find a significant effect in the same direction as the original study for 13 (62%) studies, and the effect size of the replications is on average about 50% of the original effect size.
	6.9 Controverses
NIH investigating whether U.S. scientists are sharing ideas with foreign governments [Science] The agency also said it is investigating about a half-dozen cases in which NIH-funded investigators may have broken reporting rules, and it reminded researchers who review grant applications that they should not share proposal information with outsiders.