Onco Actu du 30 octobre 2019

	1. BIOLOGIE
Caught on Video: Cancer Cells in Act of Cannibalism [NIH Director's Blog] Tumors rely on a variety of tricks to grow, spread, and resist our best attempts to destroy them. Now comes word of yet another of cancer’s surprising stunts: when chemotherapy treatment hits hard, some cancer cells survive by cannibalizing other cancer cells. Researchers recently caught this ghoulish behavior on video.
Could mathematics help to better treat cancer? [Université de Genève] Researchers propose to examine cellular communication in the light of information theory, a mathematical theory more commonly used in computer science. This work, to be discovered in the journal Trends in Cell Biology, offers a radically new approach to oncology.
	4.15 DÉP., DIAG. & PRONO. - IMAGERIE
Case Western Reserve digital-imaging lab advances understanding of which ‘stage 0’ patients are most likely to progress to advanced cancer and may benefit from additional therapy [Case Western Reserve University] “In short, we’re probably overtreating patients,” Madabhushi continued. “That goes against prevailing wisdom, but that’s what our analysis is finding.”
	4.3 DÉP., DIAG. & PRONO. - INDUSTRIELS
FDA Approval of Myriad Genetics CDx Adds HRD to Growing List of Ovarian Cancer Predictive Markers [Genome Web] Doctors will now have to weigh their patients' HRD status against this increasingly complex backdrop of biomarker information. According to at least one oncologist, it will be more difficult for him and other practitioners to assess where Myriad Genetics' myChoice CDx, the HRD test approved with niraparib, fits into their diagnostic armamentarium because it uses a proprietary algorithm.
	5.10 TRAITEMENTS - ESSAIS
PARP Inhibitors Show Promise as Initial Treatment for Ovarian Cancer [NCI] So right now, it isn’t clear whether initial treatment with a PARP inhibitor should be recommended for all women, or only those with HRD tumors, she said. Although tests for BRCA mutations are part of standard care, HRD tests are not yet mainstream.
	5.12.2 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - CAR-T, THÉRAPIES CELLULAIRES
First Patient Dosed with Off-the-Shelf UCARTCS1 Product Candidate for Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma [Cellectis] Cellectis’ UCARTCS1 MELANI-01 Trial Commenced at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
	5.12.8 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - ECONOMIE
Merck’s quarterly Keytruda sales soar past $3 billion, but analysts fret over future growth [Fierce Pharma] The FDA approved Keytruda as a second-line treatment for SCLC in June, and Perlmutter said Merck is “encouraged” about the reception so far. But NSCLC is the bigger opportunity, he pointed out. And Merck could soon be facing some competition there.
	5.2.6 PHARMA - BIOTECH
TG Therapeutics Announces Positive Results from the UNITY-NHL Phase 2b Pivotal Trial Evaluating Umbralisib Monotherapy in Patients with Relapsed/Refractory Follicular Lymphoma [TG Therapeutics] TG plans to present the data at a future medical conference and discuss the results with the FDA.
TG Therapeutics touts safer PI3Kδ inhibitor as execs tout PhII data, hunt quick OK for a tough niche [EndPoints] Those numbers compare well or similarly with results from similar Phase II trials behind three approved PI3Kδ inhibitors, Verastem’s struggling Copiktra, Gilead’s Zydelig, and Bayer’s Aliqopa.
	5.3 TRAITEMENTS - FDA, EMA, NICE...
Statement on FDA’s new report regarding root causes and potential solutions to drug shortages [FDA] The root causes of shortages involve economic factors that are driven by both private- and public-sector decision-making. This means that the types of enduring solutions proposed in the report will require multi-stakeholder efforts and rethinking business practices throughout all sectors of the health care system.
U.S. Blames Drug Shortages on Low Prices and a ‘Broken Marketplace’ [NY Times] Paying more would encourage drug companies to prioritize drugs like vincristine, a critical cancer medicine for children that now sells for just $8 a vial. To the consternation of cancer specialists, supplies of the drug recently have been scarce.
	5.9 AACR
Boehringer Ingelheim Advances First Pan-KRAS Inhibitor BI 1701963 into Clinical Testing [Boehringer Ingelheim] Around 15% off all cancers can potentially be blocked by this compound, targeting all major oncogenic KRAS mutations.
Hey, wait up Amgen and Mirati, Boehringer Ingelheim is joining the KRAS crowd as early success inspires rivals [EndPoints] The research team at Boehringer has moved BI 1701963 — an SOS1 inhibitor — as a monotherapy as well as in combination with the MEK inhibitor Mekinist (trametinib) into Phase I for various KRAS mutations.
	5.9.14 AACR - OVAIRE
Ovarian Cancer: Examining the Microenvironment and Mutational Landscapes to Tailor Treatments [Cancer Research Catalyst] A couple of studies presented at the conference set out to address an important question in cancer research – why is ovarian cancer so hard to treat?
	5.9.15 AACR - VADS
Kura Oncology Reports Durable Anti-Tumor Activity in Phase 2 Trial of Tipifarnib in HRAS Mutant Head and Neck Cancer [Kura Oncology] 56% confirmed ORR in 18 efficacy-evaluable HNSCC patients with HRAS mutant variant allele frequency ≥ 20%.
Tipifarnib Shows Promising Clinical Activity in Patients With HRAS-mutant Head and Neck Cancer [AACR] Limitations of the study include small sample size. “More patients need to be treated to firmly establish the effectiveness of tipifarnib for patients with HRAS-mutant HNSCC,” Ho cautioned.
	6. LUTTE CONTRE LES CANCERS
National ASCO Survey Finds Major Gaps in Americans’ Knowledge of Cancer Prevention, E-Cigarettes, and End-of-Life Care [ASCO] Few Americans are incorporating cancer prevention into daily life, despite concerns about developing the disease.
	6.1 OBSERVATION
Report Outlines Social Determinants’ Role in Cancer and Public Health [ACS] A new report outlines the critical role social determinants play in shaping population health, highlighting that health disparities are systemic, and cut across multiple population characteristics, including race/ethnicity, age, disability status, sexual orientation or gender identity, or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion.
	6.10 POLITIQUES
Beware the UK government’s Brexit promises [Nature] Government offers of new funds for UK scientists could be unaffordable.
	6.12 ETHIQUE
The ‘cancer growing in cancer medicine’: pharma money paid to doctors [STAT] Researchers should be free to work with pharmaceutical companies on trials, but there is no legitimate reason why a well-paid physician needs to take personal payments, gifts, meals, or travel expenses from the pharmaceutical industry. That practice must end.
	6.9 CONTROVERSES
Johnson & Johnson Says Recalled Baby Powder Doesn’t Have Asbestos [NY Times] Johnson & Johnson said 15 new tests of that very bottle came up clean. Another 48 tests of samples from the recalled lot, conducted by two third-party labs, reached the same conclusion, the company said.