Biomarkers of pro-inflammatory response may identify cancer patients at risk of adverse outcomes from SARS-COV-2 infection

 First reported at the ESMO Asia Virtual Congress, held this past weekend (November 20-22, 2020), researchers in the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College, Hammersmith Hospital in London, "investigators testing and validating several key biomarkers of inflammation to identify cancer patients at increased risk of mortality from COVID-19 found a significant association between these biomarkers and decreases overall survival."  Known as OnCovid, the study retrospectively analyzed 1,318 cancer patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from February 27 - June 23, 2020 at 23 academic centres in the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Belgium.  The findings determined that inflammation is a key factor in mortality from SARS-COV-2 for cancer patients and thus can be used "as beside tests to stratify patients at risk of poorer outcome from COVID-19." 

To read more about this study, click here. 

Study mentioned: 319O – Dettorre G, Diamantis N, Loizidou A, et al. The systemic pro-inflammatory response identifies cancer patients with adverse outcomes from SARS-CoV-2 infection. ESMO Asia Virtual Congress 2020 (20-22 November).

WHO Europe factsheet: policy action needed to reduce cancers attributable to alcohol use

 A new factsheet released by the World Health Organization (WHO) focused on the need for greater awareness regarding alcohol use and cancers, specifically breast and colorectal.  The fact sheet states that alcohol consumption was responsible for 180 000 cancer cases and 92 000 deaths in Europe in 2018.  Several coat-effective policies, "such as increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages and restricting marketing and availability of alcohol" are suggested  as policies that can be implemented to curb this disturbing trend. 

To learn more about this factsheet, click here. 

Colorectal cancer rising among young adults

 Following a think tank held this past September, comprised of 400 scientists from academia, industry, and government, together with patent advocates, colorectal cancer rates are on the rise amongst young adults.  When the age range is extended from the traditional young adult grouping beyond the 18-24 or even 18-35 age group, "colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer death among people under 50 in the United States."  Further, only 10%-20% of colorectal cancer diagnoses among younger adults are due to inherent genetic factors; most are caused by lifestyle factors, including poor diet and sedentary behaviour.  

To read more about the think tank findings, click here. 

New trial alert: Identification of actionable molecular alternations in NCI-match

 A recently completed trial at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Centre in Boston indicates that next-generation sequencing (NLS) conducted on biopsy specimens of 5,954 patients "with relapsed, refractory advanced cancers permits training of newly one-with (18%) of patients to evidence-based investigational therapy."  Known as NCI-MATCH (National Cancer Institute Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice), this was the first national trial of its kind in the United States, incorporating "centralized diagnostic testing and geographically distributed clinical investigation of dozens of parallel treatment options."  

To read more about this trial, click here

Source mentioned: Flaherty KT, Gray RJ, Chen AP, et al. Molecular Landscape and Actionable Alterations in a Genomically Guided Cancer Clinical Trial: National Cancer Institute Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (NCI-MATCH). JCO; Published online 13 October 2020. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.19.03010.