Onco Actu du 19 juin 2019

	1. BIOLOGIE
Garvan researchers to create an ‘Atlas’ for breast cancer [Garvan Institute] The ‘Breast Cancer Cell Atlas’ will catalogue data from a million individual cells from patient breast tumours, collected over the past five years – the most comprehensive view of breast cancer yet.
	1.1 BIOLOGIE - GÉNOME
Study Finds Genetic Mutations in Healthy Human Tissues [NIH Director's Blog] It’s not yet clear to what extent such pockets of altered cells may put people at greater risk for developing cancer down the road. But the presence of these genetic mutations does have potentially important implications for early cancer detection.
	2. ETIOLOGIE
Queen's researchers find poor oral health is linked to a 75% increase in liver cancer risk [Queen's University Belfast] The study by Queen’s, analysed a cohort of 469,000 people in the UK, investigated the association between oral health conditions and the risk of a number of gastrointestinal cancers, including liver, colon, rectum and pancreatic cancer.
	2.12 ETIOLOGIE - UV
Science Surgery: ‘How is skin cancer related to sun exposure?’ [Cancer Research UK] Marais says it may be that each person has an individual threshold of damage. “It’s a numbers game really, you have millions and millions of melanocytes in your skin,” says Marais. “And the more you expose yourself the more likely it is that one of those cells will pick up the wrong constellation of damage in the wrong constellation of genes, and unfortunately that will lead to melanoma.”
	2.6 ETIOLOGIE - ENVIRONNEMENT
How Can Identifying and Measuring Exposures to Environmental Carcinogens Help Prevent Cancer? [Cancer Research Catalyst] To address these issues, the AACR is hosting a conference focusing on Environmental Carcinogenesis: Potential Pathway to Cancer Prevention next week in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Bayer asks trial judge to reverse $2 billion Roundup jury verdict [Reuters] Bayer asked Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith, who presided over the roughly seven-week long trial, to reverse the jury decision and enter judgment in Bayer’s favor, or order a new trial.
	3.3 PRÉVENTION - VACCINS
World survey reveals people trust experts but want to know more about science [Wellcome Trust] The Wellcome Global Monitor 2018 shows high overall global trust in doctors, nurses and scientists, and confidence in vaccines.
France most skeptical about science and vaccines, global survey finds [Science] Sluggish economy and unemployment could explain French pessimism about science’s job-boosting power.
Survey shows crisis of confidence in vaccines in parts of Europe [The Guardian] Just half of people in eastern Europe think vaccines are safe, compared with 79% worldwide.
France leads the world in mistrust of vaccines [Reuters] The study, conducted by Gallup and funded by global health charity The Wellcome Trust, found one in three French people think vaccines are unsafe – the highest rate in the world - and almost 20% believe they are not effective.
	3.8 PRÉVENTION - ALIMENTATION
Men who eat two portions of yoghurt are less likely to develop bowel cancer, major study finds [The Telegraph] The study, published in Gut, which tracked more than 32,000 men for 25 years, found that those consuming at least two portions of yoghurt a week had 19 per cent fewer growths - and 26 per cent fewer of the most high-risk type. The study was observational, and could not demonstrate why the foodstuff might have such an impact.
	4.12 BIOPSIES LIQUIDES
Biocept Announces Commercial Launch of Target Selector™ NGS Breast Panel, the Company's Second Multi-Gene Tumor-Specific Panel [Biocept] Biocept continues to expand its commercial offering for breast cancer and remains the only liquid biopsy provider to offer single-biomarker testing, tumor-specific panels, and circulating tumor cell analysis.
	4.2 DÉP., DIAG. & PRONO. - GÉNOME
Next-Generation Sequencing of Pediatric Cancer Patients Could Transform Treatment Paradigms [Genome Web] Given the impact NGS testing has had on advancing understanding of pediatric cancer biology and treatment approaches, Kung is convinced that every child with cancer should "absolutely" be sequenced with NGS tools. Mardis seemingly favors a more targeted approach to the application of NGS in pediatric cancers.
QIAGEN to deliver genomic insights for Japan’s new molecular oncology clinical research and precision medicine initiative [QIAGEN] Japan’s Center for Cancer Genomics and Advanced Therapeutics (C-CAT), a unit within the National Cancer Center (NCC) of Japan, will use QIAGEN’s QCI platform including expert curated evidence knowledge bases, bioinformatics software and data center infrastructure to support the C-CAT’s molecular profiling services for core and cooperative hospitals of the country’s cancer genomic medicine program.
	5. TRAITEMENTS
Five-Year Outcomes with Combination Targeted Therapy in Metastatic Melanoma [ESMO] The authors concluded that dabrafenib plus trametinib led to five-year disease control in approximately one-fifth and five-year survival in approximately one-third. Complete response appears to strongly predict long-term benefit.
	5.1 TRAITEMENTS - PRÉ-CLINIQUE
Not If. When: Metabolomics’ Impact in Cancer Treatments May Be Just around the Corner [GEN] Despite the challenges that surround the sheer enormity of building a metabolomics database and other aspects of metabolomics, the researchers in the field see their work playing a role in advancing cancer treatment and diagnosis in the future.
Testing therapies on mini-tumors of head and neck cancer [Hubrecht Institute] Tumor-organoids of thirty patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer have been kept in culture for over a year. After growing the mini-tumors, they were exposed to chemotherapies that are currently given to patients with head and neck cancer. Since radiotherapy is also a common component of the treatment of these patients, the organoids were also exposed to radiotherapy.
Chemists’ breakthrough in synthesis advances a potent anti-cancer agent [Harvard Gazette] Known to be a potent anti-cancer agent in mouse studies, and found naturally in sea sponges — though only in minuscule quantities — the halichondrin class of molecule is so fiendishly complex that it had never been synthesized on a meaningful scale in the lab.
	5.12.11 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - PRÉ-CLINIQUE
Researchers Identify Enzyme That Suppresses Immune System in Breast Cancer [Duke Cancer Institute] McDonnell and colleagues reported that a kinase, or enzyme, called CaMKK2 is highly expressed in macrophages within human breast tumors. They performed a series of exploratory studies that revealed the molecule’s potential utility as a therapeutic target for breast cancer.
How to Reinvigorate Exhausted Immune Cells and Stop Cancer Along the Way [Penn Medicine] “The discovery of TOX as the key regulator of exhausted T cells now allows us to envision immunotherapies that target, or engineer, TOX to reverse or prevent exhaustion and improve immunity to infections or cancer.”
	5.12.2 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - CAR-T, THÉRAPIES CELLULAIRES
FDA Grants Fast Track Designation for Torque’s First Deep-Primed T Cell Cancer Immunotherapy Program, TRQ-1501 [Torque] TRQ-1501 is an investigational immune cell therapy produced from a patient’s own T cells, which are primed to target multiple tumor-associated antigens (PRAME, WT-1, SSX2, Survivin, NY-ESO-1) and loaded with Deep IL-15 (a multimer of IL-15 cytokine) anchored to the T cells’ surface.
	5.12.6 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - AMM
Merck racks up another FDA approval for Keytruda cancer drug [Biopharma Dive] While Keytruda’s explosive growth has been a boon for Merck’s sales and stock price, some analysts have questioned whether the drugmaker is too dependent on the cancer treatment. Almost half of the company’s late-stage trials involve Keytruda.
FDA approves pembrolizumab for metastatic small cell lung cancer [FDA] Efficacy was investigated in 83 patients with SCLC who had disease progression on or after two or more prior lines of therapy enrolled in one of two multicenter, multi-cohort, non-randomized, open label trials.
Stepping on Roche's toes, Merck cuts into SCLC niche with third-line Keytruda OK [EndPoints] While this marks Keytruda’s first indication for SCLC, Merck has dramatically altered the NSCLC landscape since 2015, quadrupling the 5-year survival rate of patients who had not been previously treated with chemo from 5.5% to 23.2%.
FDA Approves Merck’s KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) as Monotherapy for Patients with Metastatic Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) with Disease Progression on or After Platinum-Based Chemotherapy and at Least One Other Prior Line of Therapy [Merck] Marks First Approval for KEYTRUDA in SCLC.
	5.2 PHARMA
Right back at you, Pfizer: BeiGene and a Pfizer spinout launch a newco to develop a MEK/BRAF inhibitor that could rival $11.4B combo [EndPoints] A day after Pfizer bought Array and its approved cancer combo, BeiGene and Pfizer spinout SpringWorks have partnered in launching a new biotech that has an eye on the very same market the pharma giant just paid billions for. And they’re planning on using an ex-Pfizer drug to do it.
	5.2.1 PHARMA - PARTENARIATS
Sanofi, Google team up in search of new treatments, marketing solutions [Fierce Pharma] Partnering with tech players to improve and develop products and implementing digital solutions within the company were two of Sanofi’s priorities when it bestowed the Chief Digital Officer title on Nathwani in February.
Sanofi and Google to develop new healthcare Innovation Lab [Sanofi] The collaboration aims to change how Sanofi develops new treatments and will focus on three key objectives: to better understand patients and diseases, to increase Sanofi’s operational efficiency, and to improve the experience of Sanofi’s patients and customers.
Sanofi aligns itself with Google to streamline drug development [EndPoints] Google’s technology will be applied to Sanofi’s large real-world database to help navigate what treatments work for which category of patients.
	5.3 TRAITEMENTS - FDA, EMA, NICE...
Study: Just half of postmarketing commitment trials are published [EndPoints] Conducted by researchers at Yale University, University of Connecticut and University of California, San Francisco, the study reviewed postmarketing commitments for the 110 new drugs and biologics approved from 2009-2012.
	5.3.4 TRAITEMENTS - AMM (FDA, EMA,...)
AstraZeneca/Merck win EU approval for frontline maintenance treatment of ovarian cancer, months after FDA endorsement [EndPoints] AstraZeneca is on a turnaround mission under CEO Pascal Soriot, as the British drugmaker prioritizes cancer with its oncology products such as Lynparza, Tagrisso and Imfinzi to help elevate its portfolio of treatments that have been bruised by generic treatments.
Roche fields first approval for Rozlytrek in the run-up to a showdown with Bayer, Pfizer [EndPoints] While it’s waiting to hear back from FDA regulators, Roche is beginning the victory lap for entrectinib in Japan. Roche is giving Bayer a run for their money with this tumor-agnostic drug, which targets NTRK gene fusions. Now dubbed Rozlytrek, it’s sanctioned to treat adult and pediatric patients in Japan with neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase fusion-positive, advanced recurrent solid tumors.
	6.7 DMP, BIG DATA & APPLIS
Working together, data scientists and cancer researchers can transform cancer treatment [STAT] Komen’s Big Data for Breast Cancer (BD4BC) initiative is creating opportunities for cancer researchers and data scientists to become familiar with each other’s field, fostering strong collaborations and ultimately creating a new “bilingual” workforce populated with individuals who understand breast cancer risks, onset, and progression and can apply data science methods to answer the challenges faced by breast cancer patients.
	6.8 COMMUNICATION
Employ Cybersecurity Techniques Against the Threat of Medical Misinformation [JAMA] The wider medical and scientific establishment should follow the lead of the FDA’s #WeHeartHackers strategy and embrace the use of white hat techniques to confront medical misinformation. Hoping to address misinformation cyberattacks on the health of individuals and populations through purely reactive or passive means is wishful thinking.