Onco Actu du 22 octobre 2019

	1. BIOLOGIE
Cell stiffness may indicate whether tumors will invade [MIT] The results, which the team reports today in the journal Nature Physics, point to a new route for cancer therapy, focused on changing the physical properties of cancer cells to delay or even prevent a tumor from spreading.
A powerful cell-protection system prevents cell death by ferroptosis [Nature] The discovery of a mechanism that guards against a type of cell death called ferroptosis reveals a system that regenerates a ubiquitous protective component of biological membranes, and might offer a target for anticancer drugs.
	1.1 BIOLOGIE - GÉNOME
Childhood cancer survivorship data portal in St. Jude Cloud launched at ASHG [St. Jude Children's Research Hospital] The survivorship portal on St. Jude Cloud makes clinical and genomic data from thousands of childhood cancer survivors accessible to researchers worldwide. A poster detailing the website was presented today at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting in Houston.
	1.4 BIOLOGIE - TECHNOS, MODÈLES
Broad Institute's New Prime Editing Tech Corrects Nearly 90 Percent of Human Pathogenic Variants [Genome Web] During a press briefing before the release of the study, Liu noted that it is likely prime editors are capable of insertions and deletions that are larger than the ones demonstrated in the paper. However, he added, the researchers suspect that attempting super long insertions and deletions would require a larger pegRNA, which may be too big to fold correctly. They are currently researching this question.
The newest gene editor radically improves on CRISPR [MIT Technology Review] The new technology, which delivers a wider menu of edits with more finesse, is already worth untold sums of money. Even before the paper was published, a syndicate of venture capitalists, including Newpath, Google’s venture arm, and F-Prime, had formed a company, Prime Medicine, and bought rights to it from the Broad Institute, where Liu has a lab.
Scientists Create New, More Powerful Technique To Edit Genes [NPR] One advantage of the new editing technique is that, unlike CRISPR, prime editing doesn't rely on the ability of a cell to divide to help make the desired changes in DNA. That means it could be used to correct genetic mutations in cells that often don't divide, such as cells in the nervous system.
New CRISPR genome editing system offers a wide range of versatility in human cells [Broad Institute] “Prime editing” combines two key proteins and a new RNA to make targeted insertions, deletions, and all possible single-letter changes in the DNA of human cells.
New gene editing technology – Expert Reaction [Science Media Centre] They tested their technique over 175 times in cells, and were able to correct the primary genetic causes of sickle cell disease and Tay Sachs disease, and they say they could use it to correct around 89 per cent of genetic diseases. The SMC gathered expert comment on the report.
New CRISPR tool has the potential to correct almost all disease-causing DNA glitches, scientists report [STAT] Most impressive to other scientists is prime editing’s ability to insert missing nucleotides or replace a string of disease-causing ones with nucleotides supplied by CRISPR. Liu and his colleagues inserted as many as 44, a quantity he says they were “skeptical” of achieving.
	2. ETIOLOGIE
Scientists pioneer new way of finding cancer-causing germs [University of East Anglia] "When tumour samples are whole genome sequenced, DNA from any pathogens present will also be sequenced, making it possible to detect and quantify pathogens. This gives us a fantastic opportunity to collect data that will help us find new associations between bacteria and viruses and different types of cancer."
	2.6 ETIOLOGIE - ENVIRONNEMENT
Who’s Afraid of Roundup? [Issues in Science and Technology] In the age of “Facebook science,” the weight of evidence must compete with powerful popular narratives. Can common sense help?
	3.1.1 PRÉVENTION - TABAC - E-CIGS
Time for The Lancet to realign with the evidence on e-cigarettes? [The Lancet] Is it not time for The Lancet to realign its approach with the facts and the evidence and accept that e-cigarettes have an important part to play in tobacco control? I am director of Health Improvement at Public Health England.
	4. DÉPISTAGE, DIAGNOSTIC ET PRONOSTIC
Early cancer detection is goal of transatlantic research alliance [Nature] The collaborators will take advantage of recent advances in cancer genetics and imaging.
	5.10 TRAITEMENTS - ESSAIS
CTTI Unveils New Recommendations for Using Real-World Data Sources to Boost Trial Quality and Efficiency [CCTI] The work fills an important gap across the clinical trials ecosystem, where the potential benefits of real-world data (RWD) have been widely acknowledged, but few resources have emerged to lead sponsors and others through the process of formally integrating RWD into their trial designs.
	5.12.5 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - PHARMA
Roche's Tecentriq scores a first-in-class double win in new liver cancer patients [Fierce Pharma] Tecentriq is the first drug in its class to deliver phase 3 data showing it can both keep cancer at bay and lengthen lives—and that second piece could prove to be a key advantage.
IMbrave150: Roche’s regulatory crew plans a global rollout of Tecentriq combo for liver cancer as PhIII scores a hit [EndPoints] Given their breakthrough and Big Pharma status as well as the use of two approved drugs, FDA approval may well prove to be something of a formality. And the Chinese have been clear that they want new drugs for liver cancer, where lethal disease rates are particularly high.
	5.12.7 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - VACCINS
RNA therapies explained [Nature Outlook] Treatments that target RNA or deliver it to cells fall into three broad categories, with hybrid approaches also emerging.
	5.16 TRAITEMENTS - CHIRURGIE
Anaesthesia for breast cancer surgery has no influence on risk of tumor recurrence [Medical University of Vienna] These data disprove the assumption that anaesthesia might have a negative impact on breast cancer recurrence. The results have been recently published in "The Lancet".
	5.2 PHARMA
Seattle Genetics' breast cancer drug hits mark in pivotal trial [Fierce Biotech] The only possible concerns revealed in the data shared today relate to the safety of tucatinib. While Seattle Genetics said the drug was generally well tolerated and showed a manageable safety profile, there were some differences in the rates of adverse events in the tucatinib and control arms.
SeaGen to Seek FDA Nod After Breast Cancer Drug Hits Goals of Key Study [Xconomy] Tucatinib, an pill, targets tyrosine kinase enzymes, which play a key role in cancer growth. Originally developed by another Washington state company, Cascadian Therapeutics, the drug was in late-stage testing last year when SeaGen acquired the company—and its lead drug—for $614 million cash.
Seattle Genetics stock hits record high on well-placed breast cancer bet [Biopharma Dive] Success with tucatinib in the so-called HER2CLIMB trial marks another step forward for Seattle Genetics' pipeline, helping the company in its quest to expand beyond Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin), its only marketed drug.
Clay Siegall’s $614M wager on tucatinib pays off with solidly positive pivotal data and a date with the FDA [EndPoints] We’ll have to wait until the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium for the breakdown on just how many months of PFS and OS Seattle Genetics is talking about.
Seattle Genetics Announces Positive Topline Results from Pivotal Trial of Tucatinib in Locally Advanced or Metastatic HER2-Positive Breast Cancer [Seattle Genetics] The tucatinib arm demonstrated an improvement in overall survival, with a 34 percent reduction in the risk of death (HR=0.66 (95% CI: 0.50, 0.88); p=0.0048) compared to trastuzumab and capecitabine alone.
	5.3 TRAITEMENTS - FDA, EMA, NICE...
Enhancing consistency in wording of therapeutic indications to support healthcare decision-making [EMA] EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP) has developed a paper to strengthen consistency when defining therapeutic indications in the product information of medicines. The document is intended to guide assessors in the national competent authorities who are responsible for evaluating marketing authorisation and extension of indication applications received by EMA.
	6.1 OBSERVATION
Cancer-causing superbug has become twice as hard to kill [The Telegraph] Antibiotic resistance to a superbug that causes cancer has more than doubled in just 20 years, according to new research. The finding is based on drugs that treat Helicobacter pylori – a potentially deadly bacteria linked to peptic ulcers and the gastric tumour lymphoma.
	6.12 ETHIQUE
The Ethical Conundrums of Ultra-personalized Drugs [Bill of Health] The problem for the researcher has traditionally been phrased as whether it is ethical to subordinate the good of the individual to benefit the common good. By contrast, the problem of custom drugs is whether to subordinate the common good for the interests of the individual by dedicating scarce medical resources to research that stands to benefit only one person.