Onco Actu du 12 septembre 2018

	1. Biologie
Understanding the geography of triple negative breast cancer [Stanford Medicine] They used tissue samples from 41 TNBC patients to sort patient samples into two categories: one in which the immune cells had infiltrated the tumor microenvironment, which they designated as "mixed," and the other in which the immune cells crowded along defined borders outside and within the tumor, which they called "compartmentalized." These differences correlated with patient survival, they found.
Lasker Awards Recognize Work on Histones, Anesthesia, RNA [The Scientist] Allis and colleagues would later uncover more details about how this regulation works, including an enzyme that removes acetyl tags on histones, changing genes’ expression levels. The work helped lay the foundation for developing drugs for cancer and other conditions that involve aberrant histone tags.
Histone Modifications: Insights into Their Influence on Gene Expression [Cell] This year’s Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award honors David Allis and Michael Grunstein for their pioneering research that highlighted the importance of histones and their post-translational modifications in the direct control of gene expression.
	5. Traitements
Are We Being Misled About Precision Medicine? [NY Times] Doctors and hospitals love to talk about the cancer patients they’ve saved, and reporters love to write about them. But deaths still vastly outnumber the rare successes.
	5.1 Traitements - Pré-clinique
This gene mutation is key to glioblastoma’s ‘immortality’ and could point to drug targets [FierceBiotech] Costello and his colleagues at UCSF are working in partnership with GSK to find small molecules to target GABP-b1L. Although their priority is glioblastoma, they believe their approach could ultimately be applied to many tumor types, as more than 50 human cancers have been linked to mutations in TERT promoters.
Researchers Unlock Secret of Deadly Brain Cancer’s “Immortality” [UCSF] “In theory what we have now is a therapeutic target that is not TERT itself, but a key to the TERT switch that is not essential in normal cells,” Costello said. “Now we have to design a therapeutic molecule that would do the same thing.”
	5.12.3 Immunothérapies-combinaisons
Can Pfizer and Merck KGaA parlay Bavencio combo data into a kidney cancer win? [FiercePharma] The partners plan to take the data to regulators to support their application for a new approval and are submitting the numbers for presentation at an upcoming medical meeting. The trial will go on to assess whether the combo can help patients live longer.
Bavencio® (Avelumab) Plus Inlyta® (Axitinib) Significantly Improved Progression-Free Survival In Previously Untreated Patients With Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma In Phase III Study [Pfizer] First positive phase iii immunotherapy trial in combination with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) in any tumor type.
	5.2 Pharma
Minimal Residual Disease Negativity Data, a Measure of Undetectable Disease, Added to VENCLEXTA® (venetoclax tablets) Label [AbbVie] Minimal residual disease (MRD)-negativity is defined as having disease at a threshold of less than one chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cell per 10,000 lymphocytes in the blood or bone marrow.
Health-Related Quality of Life Maintained with Addition of ERLEADA to Androgen Deprivation Therapy for Patients with Non-Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer [Janssen] Patient-reported outcomes data from the SPARTAN study published in The Lancet Oncology showed no additional treatment-related burden as it relates to quality of life.
	5.2.1 Pharma - Partenariats
Incyte and Foundation Medicine Announce Agreement to Develop Companion Diagnostic for Pemigatinib (INCB54828), a Selective FGFR Inhibitor, in Patients with Cholangiocarcinoma [Incyte] The initial CDx, which will include detection of activating FGFR2 translocations, is expected to be incorporated into FoundationOne®CDx, Foundation Medicine’s FDA-approved comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) assay and broad CDx platform.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
NICE Issues Evidence-Based Recommendations on Lenvatinib and Sorafenib for Treatment of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer [ESMO] They are recommended for treatment of progressive, locally advanced or metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer in adults who have had radioactive iodine.
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
Integrating Geriatric Assessment into Cancer Care: A Conversation with Dr. Supriya Mohile [NCI] In this interview, Supriya G. Mohile, M.D., who directs the Geriatric Oncology Research Program at the University of Rochester's James Wilmot Cancer Institute, discusses the unique issues experienced by older adults with cancer and the recent publication of guidelines on incorporating geriatric assessment into patient care.
	6.1 Observation
Hispanic Children More Likely to Experience Neurotoxicity During Treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia [AACR] The study found that 39 patients, or 13.9 percent, experienced neurotoxicity. Hispanic patients experienced neurotoxicity more than twice as often as non-Hispanic whites, after controlling for sex, age at diagnosis, body mass index, and ALL risk stratification.
	6.11 Patients
Improving Cancer Diagnosis and Care Patient Access to Oncologic Imaging and Pathology Expertise and Technologies: Proceedings of a Workshop [National Academies Press] The first workshop, held on February 12–13, 2018, in Washington, DC, focused on potential strategies to ensure that patients have access to appropriate expertise and technologies in oncologic pathology and imaging to inform their cancer diagnosis and treatment planning, as well as assessment of treatment response and surveillance. This publication chronicles the presentations and discussions at the workshop.
	6.9 Controverses
The CRISPR patent decision didn’t get the science right. That doesn’t mean it was wrong [STAT] If you don’t agree with the Federal Circuit’s decision, you may be in good company. The law can sometimes be wrong as a matter of both policy and practicality. But, at least ideally, the law provides a previously agreed-upon, neutral set of rules to decide disputes. When the law no longer works, it’s ultimately the job of Congress to change the law.