Happy Easter! Blog posts will resume week of April 6th

To all Grey Horizon readers, 

Blog posts will resume the week of April 6th. 

Happy Easter - please stay safe and well.  

Factors associated with COVID-19 severity among cancer patients

A recently study published in the Annals of Oncology summarized findings of 4,966 cancer patients who contracted COVID-19 between March 17 - November 18, 2020.  Associated factors included hospitalization (58%), death within 30 days (13%), age (median=66), gender (51% female), and race (50% white).  The authors of the study concluded that "older age, male sex, Black race, Hispanic ethnicity, and haematology malignancy", among some other laboratory factors, "were associated with poor outcomes among cancer patients with COVID-19. 

To read more about this study, click here. 

Study mentioned: Grivas P, Khaki AR, Wise-Draper TM, et al. Association of Clinical Factors and Recent Anti-Cancer Therapy with COVID-19 Severity among Patients with Cancer: A Report from the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium. Annals of Oncology; Published online 18 March 2021. doi: https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.annonc.2021.02.024.

New trial alert: Non-ablative Oligofractionated Radiation Therapy Before Surgical Transplantation As Radiovaccination (NORTh STAR)

A prospective phase I study at the University Health Network's Toronto General Hospital is currently recruiting participants. The goal of the study is to "determine the safety and feasibility of non-ablative oligofractionated radiation therapy (NORT) before lung transplantation for patients with underlying pulmonary malignancy.". It is believed that this therapy could create a vaccine-life effect and thus refue risk of cancer recurrence after transplantaion. To learn more about this trial, click here.

EMA recommends Abiraterone for treatment of metastatic prostate cancer

The European Medicines Agency (EMA)'s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recently recommended granting market authorization for Abiraterone Accord for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer.  Abiraterone is "a hormone antagonist that inhibits the production of androgens in the testes, adrenal glands and prostatic tumour tissues." 

To read more about this recommendation, click here. 

Tumour signatures defined by next generation sequencing linked to clinical response in breast cancer

 Research recently conducted at the Institute of Pathology in Marburg, Germany, "investigated the hypothesis that genomic patterns of mutational signatures are associated with the clinical behaviour of breast cancer...including chemotherapy response and survival."  According to lead author professor Carsten Denkert, 2 mutational signatures, S3 (HRD) and S13 (APOBEC) were identified as increasing pCR rates "with neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the HR-positive subcohort." 

To read more about this study, click here. 

Source mentioned: Denkert C, Untch M, Benz S, et al. Reconstructing tumor history in breast cancer: signatures of mutational processes and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Annals of Oncology; Published online 5 January 2021. doi: 10.1016/j.annonc.2020.12.016.