Onco Actu du 16 novembre 2018

	1. Biologie
By solving a mystery of gene repair, scientists uncover an exception to biology’s rules [UNC] They believe their findings have a number of applications, including a new way to sensitize cancer cells to DNA damage through radiation therapy by preventing this type of repair. Shutting down the repair pathway by inserting a compound other than RNA into the break would cause cancerous cells damaged by radiation therapy to die.
	2.6 Etiologie - Environnement
California judge orders next Monsanto weed-killer cancer trial for March [Reuters] Petrou’s ruling clears the way for the second California jury trial over glyphosate, the world’s most widely used weed killer. The trial of California residents Alva and Alberta Pilliod is scheduled to begin on March 18, 2019, according to a court filing.
	3.1.1 Prévention - Tabac - e-cigs
Stanford tobacco researcher weighs in on JUUL [Stanford Medicine] JUUL sells their products in the U.K., Canada, Israel, and will soon be in Asia. In the U.K., 85 percent of teens are on Instagram. JUUL’s decision to halt its social media only in the U.S. suggests that their action is more a defensive tactic in response to threatened regulation than a genuine commitment to stemming underage use.
Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., on proposed new steps to protect youth by preventing access to flavored tobacco products and banning menthol in cigarettes [FDA] As a cancer survivor myself, I understand too well the uncertainty, grief and struggle that accompanies a cancer diagnosis. And as a father of three young children, I hear daily from parents and teachers worried about the epidemic use of electronic cigarettes and nicotine addiction among kids.
Results from 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey show dramatic increase in e-cigarette use among youth over past year [FDA] Sharp rise in e-cigarette use results in uptick in overall tobacco product use; prompts new, forceful steps by FDA to firmly confront and reverse youth epidemic.
Juul Can Breathe After Dodging Full FDA Ban on Flavored E-Cigs [Wired] The FDA proposed restrictions on the sale of e-cigarettes that are similar to policies that Juul adopted earlier this week.
Q&A: The ABCs of E-Cigarettes [NY Times] As vaping grows more popular, especially among teens, here are answers to some basic questions about its health effects.
	3.4 Chimioprévention
How some journalists got hooked by fish oil and vitamin D spin [HealthNewsReview] Here is the conclusion of the vitamin D study: “Supplementation with vitamin D did not result in a lower incidence of invasive cancer or cardiovascular events than placebo.” The statements seem clear: no benefit. So why did some news organizations proclaim otherwise?
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Outsourcing firms could be banned from carrying out NHS cancer screening services [The Telegraph] Professor Sir Mike Richards, who was the NHS's first cancer director and is the former Care Quality Commission (CQC) Chief Inspector of Hospitals, will lead a team which will assess current screening programmes and recommend how they should be organised, developed and improved.
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
A new approach to detecting cancer earlier from blood tests: study [UHN Toronto] The findings, published online today in Nature, describe not only a way to detect cancer, but hold promise of being able to find it earlier when it is more easily treated and long before symptoms ever appear, says Dr. De Carvalho, Senior Scientist at the cancer centre, University Health Network.
	4.2 Dép., diag. & prono. - Génome
Offering free DNA sequencing, Nebula Genomics opens for business. But there’s an itsy-bitsy catch [STAT] Crucially, however, Nebula customers — those who answer questions as well as those who cough up $99 for sequencing — can say yes or no to any researcher who wants to include their data.
Startup Offers To Sequence Your Genome Free Of Charge, Then Let You Profit From It [NPR] The company hopes most people will pony up $99 to get the process going. "Ninety-nine bucks will get you a little bit of genetic information, but to get the full thing, [companies or researchers] will have to be interested in either your traits or your genome or both," Church says.
Nebula Genomics Touts Free DNA Sequencing to Coax Health Data Sharing [Xconomy] Nebula is betting that pharmaceutical companies and healthcare researchers will be willing to pay for users’ sequencing costs in order to access their health data—which will be anonymized—through Nebula’s online marketplace.
	5.10 Traitements - Essais
NCI-MATCH Update: More Labs, New Arms, and Initial Findings [NCI] NCI-MATCH is very much a dynamic, ongoing trial, and it is poised to generate additional results for months and years to come. Several treatment arms for rare molecular alterations continue to enroll patients. Five arms have recently been added, and another four arms will be added in the next six months.
	5.12.2 Immunothérapies - CAR-T, thérapies cellulaires
The sandbox: Parker Institute throws its research muscle behind gene therapy tech for destroying cancer cells [EndPoints] Instead of modifying the T cell to go after cancer cells, they’re modifying the cancer cells to get them to engage with T cells — engineering the cancer cell to express T cell engaging ligands. The question has been what genes should be added to do the best job.
	5.12.4 Immunothérapies - Essais
AstraZeneca provides update on the Phase III MYSTIC trial of Imfinzi and tremelimumab in Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer [AstraZeneca] In the primary analysis population of patients, whose tumours express PD-L1 on 25% or more of their cancer cells as determined by the VENTANA PD-L1 (SP263) Assay, Imfinzi monotherapy and the combination of Imfinzi plus tremelimumab did not meet the primary endpoints of improving OS compared to SoC chemotherapy.
AstraZeneca's key lung cancer treatment fails main goal in late-stage trial [Reuters] Results from the Phase III trial, known as Mystic, found that Imfinzi (durvalumab) on its own and in combination with tremelimumab did not improve overall survival more than chemotherapy in patients with a protein called PD-L1 on 25 percent or more of their cancer cells.
	5.12.6 Immunothérapies - AMM
Bristol-Myers Squibb Receives Positive CHMP Opinion Recommending Approval of Opdivo® (nivolumab) Plus Low-Dose Yervoy® (ipilimumab) as First-Line Treatment for Patients with Intermediate- and Poor-Risk Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma [BMS] Recommendation based on results from the Phase 3 CheckMate -214 clinical trial.
	5.12.8 Immunothérapies - Economie
NICE recommends cutting-edge therapy for young people with blood cancer [NICE] Young people with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) will now have access to tisagenlecleucel, also known as Kymriah made by Novartis, through the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF). Around 25 to 30 people will be eligible for tisagenlecleucel each year in England and a specialised NHS service is being developed to manage access to the new therapy.
	5.2 Pharma
FDA Grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation to ADCETRIS® (Brentuximab Vedotin) for Frontline Peripheral T-Cell Lymphomas [Seattle Genetics] Designation Based on Positive Phase 3 ECHELON-2 Trial Evaluating ADCETRIS in Frontline CD30-Expressing Peripheral T-Cell Lymphomas; Data to be Presented at Upcoming American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting in December.
	5.2.1 Pharma - Partenariats
Boehringer Ingelheim and Epizyme launch $300M precision oncology program [FierceBiotech] The collaboration’s main targets are enzymes within the helicase and histone acetyltransferase families, which have been linked to the development of cancer when dysregulated.
Boehringer Ingelheim and Epizyme Announce Worldwide Collaboration to Develop Novel Epigenetic Oncology Therapies [Boehringer Ingelheim] The collaboration has a strategic goal to focus on lung and other solid tumor cancers in patients with defined mutations, sub-populations that currently lack precision medicine treatments.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
Final NICE green light for Pfizer’s Mylotarg [PharmaTimes] Cost regulators for the NHS in England and Wales have now published final guidelines recommending Mylotarg, alongside daunorubicin and cytarabine, as an option for untreated de novo CD33-positive acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
	5.9.4 ENA
Patients with rare, incurable digestive tract cancers respond to new drug combination [ECCO] Dr Zev Wainberg reported on results from a phase II international clinical trial of dabrafenib plus trametinib in 36 patients with biliary tract cancer (BTC) and adenocarcinoma of the small intestine (ASI). These patients had one of the most common mutations in the BRAF gene –BRAF V600E – which is implicated in a number of cancers and in about 15% of BTC and ASI cancers.
	6.10 Politiques
China’s crackdown on genetics breaches could deter data sharing [Nature] China’s enormous population is a genetics goldmine. But the government, wary that this data could be exploited for profit, has been cracking down on researchers and companies that violate rules on sharing its citizens’ genetic material and information. Some scientists fear that this closer attention is creating hurdles for international collaborations.
	6.9 Controverses
Johnson & Johnson scores back-to-back victories in talc mesothelioma cases [FiercePharma] A J&J spokesperson said the company is “pleased” with the jury’s finding. “While we deeply sympathize with anyone suffering from any form of cancer, the science and facts show that her disease was not caused by her use of our talcum-based products,” she added.