Onco Actu du 1er octobre 2019

	2.11 ETIOLOGIE - ALIMENTATION
Red meat row: Major review concludes cancer link is 'weak' [The Telegraph] Their new guidance contradicts recommendations from health organisations including the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), which tells people to avoid processed meat altogether or eat very little of it, while limiting red meat to about three portions a week.
Steak is back on the menu, if a new review of risks of red meat is to be believed [Reuters] “There may be lots of reasons to decrease meat in your diet, but if you’re decreasing it to improve your health, we don’t have a lot of strong evidence to support that,” Laine said. “To be honest with our patients and the public, we shouldn’t be making recommendations that sound like they’re based on solid evidence.”
Eat Less Red Meat, Scientists Said. Now Some Believe That Was Bad Advice. [NY Times] The evidence is too weak to justify telling individuals to eat less beef and pork, according to new research. The findings “erode public trust,” critics said.
	3.1 PRÉVENTION - TABAC
E-cigarette use rises in young adults as combustible cigarette use declines [The Cancer Letter] Douglas, vice president of tobacco control at the American Cancer Society, warned that media scrutiny on vaping could actually increase cigarette use among young adults.
	3.1.1 PRÉVENTION - TABAC - E-CIGS
What are the respiratory effects of e-cigarettes? [BMJ] We conclude that current knowledge of these effects is insufficient to determine whether the respiratory health effects of e-cigarette are less than those of combustible tobacco products.
E-cigarette Product Use, or Vaping, Among Persons with Associated Lung Injury — Illinois and Wisconsin, April–September 2019 [CDC] The cause of this outbreak is unknown but might be related to prefilled THC cartridges.
Many patients with vaping-related illnesses used THC, CDC reports [STAT] The report also appeared to confirm an issue that doctors and health officials have raised throughout the investigation: Patients are reluctant to disclose THC use.
Vaping is Bad: Respiratory Illness, Banning Flavors, and Bad Behavior [Science-Based Medicine] The youth vaping epidemic has been the talk of the town in schools for a while now, and there are good and bad ways to respond to that. Unfortunately many schools have taken the wrong approach, and I think it’s important to talk about it.
Lung disease from vaping may hit Britain, says expert [The Guardian] Public Health England accused of playing down the dangers of e-cigarettes as a purely American phenomenon.
U.S. CDC recommends against using vapes with marijuana ingredient [Reuters] According to the research published by CDC on Friday, 514 of the 805 patients knew about substances used in their vaping products, with nearly 77% using THC-containing vapes.
Dank Vapes, TKO and Other THC Vaping Brands Are Linked to Illnesses, C.D.C. Says [NY Times] Health officials released the names of several products identified by patients who have been sickened in Illinois and Wisconsin.
How e-cigarettes went from celebrity accessory to product non grata [The Guardian] Several states have enacted a ban on sales of vaping products amid more than 800 reports of lung injuries nationwide.
	4.2 DÉP., DIAG. & PRONO. - GÉNOME
Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Classification From Whole-Genome Sequencing Can Inform Treatment [Genome Web] An international team of researchers sequenced 254 triple-negative breast cancer tumors from patients from the Sweden Cancerome Analysis Network-Breast (SCAN-B) project, an ongoing population-based observational study of breast cancer patients in southern Sweden.
Study highlights potential of whole genome sequencing to enable personalised cancer treatment [University of Cambridge] To understand whether WGS might be useful in a clinical setting, Cambridge researchers teamed up with colleagues in Sweden running a population-wide project called SCAN-B, which has been recruiting all women diagnosed with breast cancer in the South of Sweden since 2010. This was critical as SCAN-B has a large amount of clinical outcome data.
Tempus Finds Tumor-Normal Sequencing, RNA Profiling Aid Patient Matching to Therapies, Trials [Genome Web] The researchers reported they could match more than 40 percent of patients to a targeted treatment and about three quarters to a clinical trial, a higher rate than what they estimated would be possible with tumor-only DNA panel testing. The firm has recently launched a clinical trial matching service.
Will genome sequencing bring precision medicine for all? [The Guardian] The health secretary wants to introduce genetic screening to the NHS – but many firms are already selling cheap testing kits.
	5. TRAITEMENTS
Many cancer drugs can be co-opted to treat different types of tumour [New Scientist] The findings of the trial should still be checked by proper randomised controlled trials, says Voest. But they have already led to health insurers in the Netherlands agreeing to pay for an off-label use of one drug even though this hasn’t been approved by the European Medicines Agency.
	5.12 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES
CICON19 Day 3 Update: Vaccines and Tumor Antigens, Technology and Informatics, and the Tumor Microenvironment [CRI] The third day of CICON19 opened with session 7 devoted to tumor antigens.
CICON19 Day 2 Update: T Cell Exhaustion, the Tumor Microenvironment, and Novel Cellular Immunotherapies [CRI] One of the primary culprits in resistance to immunotherapy is the tumor microenvironment (TME), which is often harshly immunosuppressive and can promote “exhaustion” in cancer-killing T cells. To that end, the second day’s first session (third in the conference overall) took a deeper look at the mechanisms underlying this T cell exhaustion.
	5.12.5 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - PHARMA
Immuno-oncology drug development goes global [nature Reviews Drug Discovery] In the current analysis, we provide the latest update of the global immuno-oncology (IO) drug pipeline development, comparing our first survey conducted in September 2017 with our most recent survey conducted in August 2019.
Cancer immunotherapy boom showing no sign of slowdown [Biopharma Dive] Just under 3,900 active drugs are now under preclinical or clinical study, up 91% from 2017, researchers from CRI found.
	5.13 WCLC
Selpercatinib Shows Promise against Lung Cancers with Alterations in RET Gene [NCI] Selpercatinib (LOXO-292) is a targeted therapy that works by inhibiting the activity of abnormal RET proteins. The drug is an oral therapy that patients take as a pill.
	5.6.1 ESMO - ESSAIS
ESMO Opens with Survival Benefits from Long-Term Data in Pivotal Phase III Trials [OBR] Generally considered the gold standard for practice change, survival benefits were associated with osimertinib in the FLAURA lung cancer trial and two different CDK 4/6 inhibitors in the MONARCH 2 and MONALEESA-3 breast cancer trials. New five-year data from the CHECKMATE 067 trial did not just reaffirm a survival advantage for combination checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic melanoma but a potential advantage for disease cure.
	5.6.10 ESMO - VESSIE
Seattle Genetics makes case it can be more than Adcetris [Biopharma Dive] A Phase 1 trial combining Seattle Genetics and partner Astellas' enfortumab vedotin with Merck & Co.'s Keytruda, data showed the drug pairing shrank tumors in 32 out of 45 previously untreated patients with metastatic bladder cancer — a response rate markedly higher than what Keytruda's shown alone.
Adding immunotherapy to chemotherapy prolongs progression free survival in bladder cancer [ESMO 2019] Compared to chemotherapy alone, chemotherapy plus atezolizumab improved the median time to progression of metastatic tumours by two months.
Roche presents positive Phase III results for Tecentriq® (atezolizumab) in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy in people with previously untreated advanced bladder cancer [Roche] Tecentriq combination reduced the risk of disease worsening or death (progression-free survival) compared with chemotherapy alone.
A PhIII Tecentriq win? Not so much, it turns out, as Roche spells out weak data on bladder cancer [EndPoints] “I don’t think its necessarily surprising that the first study didn’t meet primary endpoints,” says Alan Sandler, the group head of product development at Roche. “The results are favorable.”
	5.6.13 ESMO - PROSTATE
Lynparza more than doubled the time without radiographic disease progression in patients with BRCA1/2- or ATM-mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer [AstraZeneca] First positive Phase III trial testing a targeted treatment in biomarker-selected prostate cancer patients.
Targeted Therapy Slows Progression of Advanced Prostate Cancer [ESMO] In the PROfound trial, researchers from across Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australia compared the poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, olaparib, with the latest forms of hormonal treatment in patients with mCRPC and key faulty DNA repair genes.
AZ, Merck's Lynparza brings precision medicine to prostate cancer with 'game-changer' results [Fierce Pharma] The results follow those from another positive prostate cancer study the partners unveiled at the ASCO annual meeting last year.
Beyond BRCA: AstraZeneca rounds out ESMO with a case for expanded biomarker in prostate cancer [EndPoints] While the 15-gene panel has been adopted in a number of studies and academic centers, an approval for Lynparza in this indication would mark the first time the assay is used in routine medical care.
'Revolution' in prostate cancer care as off-label breast cancer drug doubles survival [The Telegraph] The men in the trial had already failed to respond to hormone therapy - currently the best treatment available - and their prognoses were poor. However, their length of progression-free survival, the period during which the cancer does not get worse, increased on average from 3.6 to 7.4 months.
New England Journal of Medicine publishes data showing improved survival with Jevtana® (cabazitaxel) over second androgen receptor-targeted agent in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer [Sanofi] Jevtana more than doubled radiographic progression free survival (primary endpoint) and significantly reduced risk of death (key secondary endpoint) by 36%.
ESMO 2019: Breast and ovarian cancer drug outperforms targeted hormone therapy in some men with advanced prostate cancer [Institute of Cancer Research] The PROfound trial compared the genetically targeted cancer drug olaparib – already licensed for women with breast and ovarian cancer who have BRCA mutations – with the modern hormone treatments abiraterone and enzalutamide in patients who had advanced prostate cancer and faulty DNA repair genes.
Olaparib Outperforms Enzalutamide or Abiraterone Acetate in Men with mCRPC and HRR Alterations [ESMO] A clinically meaningful benefit in radiographic progression-free survival was provided by olaparib in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who had progressed on prior treatment with new hormonal anticancer treatments.
ESMO 2019: Modern chemotherapy drug better than second targeted hormone therapy against resistant prostate cancer [Institute of Cancer Research] The researchers found that on average, men treated with cabazitaxel lived twice as long before their cancer came back than those treated with abiraterone or enzalutamide – eight months compared with four months.
	5.6.14 ESMO - OVAIRE
Lynparza improved the time women lived without disease progression to 22 months in the broad population and to 37 months in HRD-positive patients as 1st-line maintenance treatment with bevacizumab for newly-diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer [AstraZeneca] AstraZeneca and MSD’s Lynparza added to bevacizumab reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 41% in the overall trial population.
	5.6.15 ESMO - VADS
First Report of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Treatment Individualised by Geriatric Assessment [ESMO] Fit and unfit elderly patients derive different benefit from systemic treatment for HNSCC.
	5.6.16 ESMO - APPAREIL DIGESTIF
Opdivo (nivolumab) Demonstrates Statistically Significant Overall Survival Benefit Versus Chemotherapy in Patients with Advanced Esophageal Cancer [BMS] Opdivo demonstrated a 23% reduction in the risk of death and 2.5-month improvement in median overall survival compared to chemotherapy.
	5.6.2 ESMO - DIVERS
Will Adaptimmune's SPEAR-T results in a rare sarcoma appease investors? [Fierce Biotech] The therapy, which is made from T cells taken from individual patients, is being tested in 12 patients with synovial sarcoma. The company said that seven of the patients had a partial response to the treatment and four had stable disease.
Lenvatinib Provides Encouraging Responses in Advanced or Metastatic Thymic Carcinoma [ESMO] Second-line treatment with lenvatinib shows promising anti-tumour activity.
Adding Atezolizumab to Front-Line Platinum-Based Chemotherapy Improves Progression-Free Survival in mUC [ESMO] Atezolizumab administered with chemotherapy was well-tolerated in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer.
	5.6.21 ESMO - BIOPSIES LIQUIDES
Roche, Genentech see success with lung cancer blood tests [Fierce Biotech] “We showed that liquid biopsy could be used to detect a complex type of driver mutation, called ALK, in patients with NSCLC,” Gadgeel added. “These then responded at least as well to targeted therapy as in previous studies using conventional biopsy techniques.”
	5.6.25 ESMO - VOIES BILIAIRES
Agios celebrates milestone win for ivosidenib in tough-to-treat bile duct cancer [Fierce Pharma] Patients taking Tibsovo lived a median 10.8 months, compared with 9.7 months on placebo. But adjusting to account for the 57% of placebo patients crossing over to receive the Agios drug, the placebo figure dropped to 6 months, which is significantly shorter than the 10.8 Tibsovo posted.
First Targeted Therapy for Cholangiocarcinoma Shows Clinical Benefit in Phase III Trial [ESMO] The findings mean all patients with cholangiocarcinoma should be tested for IDH-1 mutation.
Agios lines up solid PhIII data to back Tibsovo's use in bile duct cancer — ahead of planned sNDA [EndPoints] The key takeaway: For a genetically-defined group of patients with cholangiocarcinoma, or bile duct cancer, who have gone through one to two rounds of chemotherapy, ivosidenib prolonged progression-free survival, with a 6-month PFS of 32% and a 12-month rate of 22% while all patients on the placebo arm had progressed by 6 months.
Ivosidenib Provides Prolonged Progression-Free Survival in Patients with Cholangiocarcinoma and IDH1 Mutation [ESMO] Ivosidenib may be a new treatment option for rare cholangiocarcinoma in patients with an isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 mutation.
	5.6.4.1 ESMO - POUMON (OSIMERTINIB)
Tagrisso is the only 1st-line treatment for EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer to deliver a median overall survival of more than three years [AstraZeneca] 28% of patients in the global FLAURA trial were still receiving Tagrisso at three years vs. 9% on either gefitinib or erlotinib.
	5.6.6 ESMO - SEIN
TAILORx High-Risk Group Analysis Adds to Oncotype DX Chemo-Prediction Data [Genome Web] In their new study of the TAILORx cohort, Sparano and other investigators examined outcomes for a much larger group of high risk score women than the B20 analysis, looking at outcomes among 1,389 women in the trial who had risk scores of at least 26 and who were treated largely with standard of care taxane and/or anthracycline-containing adjuvant chemotherapy regimens.
TAILORx: New data on cohort with recurrence score 26-100 shows 93% cancer-free rate at five years [ECOG-ACRIN] The new data shows that the estimated rate of freedom from recurrence of breast cancer at a distant site was 93% at five years, an outcome much better than expected with endocrine therapy alone.
	5.6.7 ESMO - IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES
Efficacy Differences Are Observed According to Patients’ Sex with Immunotherapy in Advanced Solid Tumours [ESMO] Survival benefit following immune blockade also differs in men and women when the agent is administered as monotherapy or in combination with chemotherapy.
	5.6.8 ESMO - CÔLON-RECTUM
Triplet-targeted therapy improves survival for patients with advanced colorectal cancer and BRAF mutations [MD Anderson Cancer Center] Phase III trial may change standard of care for up to 15% of colorectal cancer patients.
	5.9 AACR
AACR Meeting Highlights Recent Advances in Pediatric Cancer Research [Cancer Research Catalyst] Here we highlight several studies presented at the meeting that encompass key topics, including advances in pediatric surgery, precision medicine, biomarker research, and immunotherapy.
	6.10 POLITIQUES
French research budget disappoints [Nature] Funding remains flat — but scientists look forward to national research strategy set to begin in 2021..
	6.6 PUBLICATIONS
Science publications should use checklists, badges to signal trustworthiness [STAT] To serve these ends, we support the use of badges, such as those supplied by the Center for Open Science, to telegraph the dimensions of trustworthiness merited by a study at each stage of publication.
Research on Research Institute (RoRI) launches to enable more strategic, open, diverse, and inclusive research [Digital Science] By analysing research systems and experimenting with decision and evaluation data, tools and frameworks, we aim to advance more strategic, open, diverse and inclusive research.
	6.7 DMP, BIG DATA & APPLIS
Oncologists quickly react to label changes for immunotherapies, a study by Penn, Flatiron shows [The Cancer Letter] In terms of even novel national real-world data sources like Flatiron, or ASCO CancerLinQ, or things like that that have come onto the market over the past two to three years, this is the first study, to my knowledge, that looked at the effect of a label restriction like this, using that data.
	6.7.1 IA/BIOINFORMATIQUE
An AI-Generated Drug? [In The Pipeline] Taken together these difficulties are significant and will, I think, make it difficult to raise money for such a development program at all. My own guess is that Deep Genomics will not be able to overcome them, but again, I’m open to being proven wrong.