1/26/2006 Ann Arbor, MI PY Chun et al. Cancer Res., January 15, 2006; 66(2): 981-8 Although the combination of gemcitabine and radiation produces a high frequency of complete responses in the treatment of locally advanced head and neck cancer, substantial toxicity suggests that an improvement in the therapeutic index is required. The purpose of this study was to determine if gefitinib could improve the efficacy of gemcitabine and if drug schedule is important. We hypothesized that gemcitabine followed by gefitinib would be superior to the opposite order because of both cell cycle and growth factor signaling interactions. Using UMSCC-1 cells in vitro, we confirmed that gefitinib arrested cells in G(1) and suppressed phospho-epidermal growth factor receptor (p(Y845)EGFR) and that gemcitabine arrested cells in S phase and stimulated p(Y845)EGFR. The schedule of gemcitabine followed by gefitinib caused arrest of cells in S phase. Gefitinib suppressed gemcitabine-mediated p(Y845)EGFR stimulation. This schedule caused decreased p(S473)AKT, increased poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage, and increased apoptosis compared with gemcitabine alone. The schedule of gefitinib followed by gemcitabine also caused suppression of p(Y845)EGFR but arrested cells in G(1). This schedule in which gefitinib was used first was associated with stable levels of p(S473)AKT and minimal poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage and apoptosis. These results were reflected in experiments in nude mice bearing UMSCC-1 xenografts, in which there was greater tumor regression and apoptosis when animals received gemcitabine followed by gefitinib during the first week of therapy. These findings suggest that the schedule of gemcitabine followed by gefitinib may increase the [...]

1/26/2006 Cambridge, MA press release PR NewsWire (www.prnewswire.com) OmniGuide, Inc. announced today the successful completion of the first robotic laser surgery utilizing the OmniGuide Fiber, a revolutionary hollow core fiber, on a patient suffering from a massive cancerous tumor involving the larynx and pharynx. The procedure was performed by Dr. Marshall Strome, Chairman of the Cleveland Clinic Head and Neck Institute, and assisted by Dr. Arturo Solares. Dr. Strome, M.D., Cleveland Clinic Chairman, Head & Neck Institute, said: "This technology allowed me to completely remove the tumor and perform a hemi- supraglottic laryngectomy. The setup enabled a rapid excision of the tumor, saving over two hours of operating room time and enabling back cuts and side cuts. Surgical time was also reduced due to the gas used to clear up the operating field. This technology allowed us to treat this patient while saving the patient's larynx and vocal function." For the operation, the OmniGuide Fiber, a revolutionary hollow core fiber allowing transmission of CO2 laser energy through flexible tools, was coupled to a robotic arm in order to resect the tumor. Over the course of four hours, the fiber was used trans-orally to delicately remove the tumor without having to resort to an invasive open procedure of the head and neck. As a result, the patient had less pain than before the surgery only two days post procedure, and regained the ability to swallow within one week. Dr. Steve Sheng, OmniGuide's President and CEO commented: "This is another example of [...]

1/26/2006 Washington, DC Cliff Kincaid Accuracy in Media (www.aim.org) My commentary on the need for Bill Clinton to take the lead in warning teenagers about the dangers of oral sex caught the eye of Brian R. Hill, the founder/ Executive Director of the Oral Cancer Foundation, Inc. He is a stage IV oral cancer survivor. On the matter of a link between HPV 16, a sexually transmitted virus, and cancer, especially oral cancer, he writes: "The real data about this has been mostly published by Maura Gillison at Johns Hopkins, and the correlation between HPV 16 in particular and oropharangeal and tonsillar cancers is without doubt, ditto the oral sex /oral cancer issue. There is no doubt that the HPV's forms which have cancer causing capabilities are on the rise, and the number of young, non-smoking, oral cancer patients has risen dramatically in recent years. While the primary cause, tobacco, has had its use steadily decline for more than 10 years in the U.S., the incidence rate of oral cancer has stayed the same. This would indicate that a new etiology is replacing the old stereotypical mechanism of getting this very deadly disease. "While you mention a Swedish study, the U.S. is way ahead of others in the peer-reviewed research that shows all this to be a major issue…Though the issue of awareness is critical, and Dr. Gillison even uses the word epidemic when she discusses HPV in the U.S., it is hard to get people of celebrity and power [...]

1/25/2006 Maila, Phillipines Sheila Crisostomo Philstar.com No matter the brand, each cigarette stick contains at least 43 chemicals that have been linked to cancer, the Department of Health (DOH) warned yesterday. In a training manual for its "Healthy Lifestyle" program, the DOH said the 43 chemicals form part of over 4,000 toxic substances found in cigarettes. Among these cancer-causing agents are nitrosamine, crysenes, cadnium, benzo(a)pyrene, polonium 210, nickel, P.A.H., dibenz acidine, B-napthylamine, urethane, N. nitrosonornicotine and toluidine, the manual said. "Some smokers think that they reduce the harmful effects of smoking by using cigarettes with low-tar, low-nicotine or filter. This is not true," the DOH emphasized. The DOH maintained that smokers of low-nicotine cigarettes (those with less than 1.2 milligrams) tend to increase the number of sticks they consume to maintain their normal nicotine blood level. "Smoking filter cigarettes does not also reduce cardiovascular risk. This is possibly due to a change in inhaling patterns. (Smokers) tend to inhale more and therefore the benefits of the filter are negated," the DOH added. Other toxic chemicals found in cigarettes are acetone, which is used to remove nail polish; acetic acid, which gives vinegar its sour taste; ammonia, arsenic which is sometimes used as a rat poison, butane and hexamine, used in lighter fluids; cadmium, found in rechargeable batteries; carbon monoxide, found in exhaust fumes; dieldrin, used in insecticides; ethanol, a kind of alcohol; and formaldehyde, used to preserve dead bodies. With each puff, smokers also inhale hydrogen cyanide, used to kill [...]

1/25/2006 San Diego, CA Cedric F. Garland, DrPH et al. American Journal of Public Health 252-261 Vitamin D status differs by latitude and race, with residents of the northeastern United States and individuals with more skin pigmentation being at increased risk of deficiency. A PubMed database search yielded 63 observational studies of vitamin D status in relation to cancer risk, including 30 of colon, 13 of breast, 26 of prostate, and 7 of ovarian cancer, and several that assessed the association of vitamin D receptor genotype with cancer risk. The majority of studies found a protective relationship between sufficient vitamin D status and lower risk of cancer. The evidence suggests that efforts to improve vitamin D status, for example by vitamin D supplementation, could reduce cancer incidence and mortality at low cost, with few or no adverse effects. Authors: Cedric F. Garland, DrPH, Frank C. Garland, PhD, Edward D. Gorham, PhD, MPH, Martin Lipkin, MD, Harold Newmark, ScD, Sharif B. Mohr, MPH and Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD Authors' affiliations: Cedric F. Garland, Frank C. Garland, and Edward D. Gorham are with the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego. Cedric F. Garland, Frank C. Garland, Edward D. Gorham, and Sharif B. Mohr are with the Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, Calif. Martin Lipkin is with the Strang Cancer Prevention Center, New York, NY. Harold Newmark is with the Laboratory for Cancer Research, Department of Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ. Michael F. Holick is [...]

1/25/2006 Everett, WA Melissa Slager Herald Net (heraldnet.com) Chewing tobacco is very dangerous, a man who lost part of his face to cancer says. "Smokeless tobacco" doesn't mean there's no fire. As fewer teenagers take up smoking, more are turning to chewing tobacco and snuff, health advocates warn. They're trying to drive home the lesson that a dip is no safer than a drag. This week, a Kentucky man whose lower face is deformed due to oral cancer caused by chewing tobacco is sharing his story with 5,000 teens at nine Snohomish County schools. "A lot of people still think 'take a pinch instead of a puff,'" Rick Bender told students at Weston High School in Arlington on Tuesday, quoting a 1970s advertisement that influenced him. Bender and health organizations worry that the industry term "smokeless tobacco" is misleading and are urging a new term: "spit tobacco." "Tobacco is tobacco. ... The bottom line, gang: No matter how old you are, the day you start is the day you put your body at risk," Bender said. Bender started using chewing tobacco at age 12, influenced by friends who smoked cigarettes, advertising and a love of the chew-happy baseball culture. By 26, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of oral cancer and underwent four major surgeries, losing half his jaw, a third of his tongue and partial use of his right arm. A doctor told his wife he had two years to live, noting that the chances of survival for [...]

1/24/2006 Cary, NC press release Yahoo! Finance (biz.yahoo.com) Align Pharmaceuticals, based in Cary, NC, made its debut last week with the launch of three new products for the treatment of radiation dermatitis and xerostomia (dry mouth). These products will provide relief to people undergoing radiation therapy, as well as the four million people who suffer from Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that causes dry mouth symptoms. "Our products serve an unmet need in these two communities. No other products available provide the significant relief to patients that these do," said Align Pharmaceuticals' Chief Executive Officer, William Collins. Xclair(TM) Cream is a water-based cream with ingredients that hydrate skin, as well as provide protective barriers to maintain skin integrity during the course of radiation therapy. Use of the cream begins on "day one" of radio-therapy and is applied three times a day for the duration. Xclair Cream is steroid, alcohol and fragrance free. Align has two products for xerostomia under the brand Numoisyn(TM). Numoisyn(TM) Lozenges are saliva stimulants for people with some salivary function. Numoisyn(TM) Liquid is a saliva replacement for people with little or no salivary function. Both products will benefit people with xerostomia as a result of radiation treatment for head and neck cancers, or Sjogren's syndrome. "We started this company to find therapies that would improve the quality of life in patients with no other therapeutic solutions," said Greg Preston, vice president of sales and marketing. "Our CFO is an oral cancer survivor who has experienced both radiation [...]

1/24/2006 New York, NY staff www.cancerpage.com A high quality of life (QOL) documented 1 year after treatment of primary epithelial head and neck cancer is strongly associated with survival 10 years later, investigators report. Although QOL is associated with short-term survival in patients with advanced cancer being treated palliatively, the effect of QOL on patients with cancers treated with curative intent is not known, the authors note in their report, published in the January Archives of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. Dr. Randall P. Morton, from Auckland City Hospital in New Zealand, and Dr. Hisham M. Mehanna, from University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire in Coventry, England, hypothesized that "it is more likely that the steady-state QOL, after patients had adjusted to the effects of the diagnosis and of treatment and had mobilized their coping strategies accordingly, would be the determinant of long-term survival, rather than pretreatment QOL." For their research, the authors prospectively followed 200 patients treated for head and neck cancer, who completed QOL questionnaires at diagnosis and, if free of disease, 12 months later. Median survival was 6 years. At 1 year, 140 were alive without disease recurrence. At 10 years, 136 patients had died, 48 were alive, and outcomes were unknown for 16. The pretreatment QOL was not associated with mortality after adjustment for confounders (age, gender, smoking, alcohol consumption, disease stage, nodal involvement, and tumor site), the authors report. However, low QOL after treatment remained strongly associated with death even after adjusting for demographic data and [...]

1/23/2006 Columbus, OH staff Science Daily (sciencedaily.com) Researchers have identified a new and unusual tumor suppressor gene that may be important in cancers of the lung and head and neck. The study shows that restoring the inactivated gene can slow the growth of tumor cells. The gene, known as TCF21, is silenced in tumor cells through a chemical change known as DNA methylation, a process that is potentially reversible. The findings might therefore lead to new strategies for the treatment and early detection of lung cancer, a disease that killed an estimated 163,510 Americans in 2005. The study could also lead to a better understanding of the molecular changes that occur in tumor cells during lung-cancer progression. Tumor-suppressor genes are genes that normally prevent cells from growing out of control. The loss or silencing of one or more tumor-suppressor genes is believed to be an important part of cancer development. The study, by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, was published online in the Jan. 13 early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The newly discovered gene is unusual because it can alter normal epithelial cells, causing them to change to a more primitive state. Epithelial cells form the skin and line the body's passageways and hollow organs. They are also the source of the most common forms of cancer. The more primitive cell type, known as a mesenchymal cell, is [...]

1/17/2006 Fort Wayne, IN Lauran Deergaard FortWayne Journal Gazette (fortwayne.com) The dog hopped on three legs, pain from bone cancer so bad that he wouldn’t let his afflicted fourth paw touch the floor. His owner was bracing for euthanasia when scientists offered a novel experiment: They injected a fiery sap from a Moroccan plant into Scooter’s spinal column – and the dog frolicked on all fours again for several months. The chemical destroyed nerve cells that sensed pain from Scooter’s cancer, not helping the tumor but apparently making him no longer really feel it. The dramatic effect in dogs has researchers from the National Institutes of Health preparing to test the chemical in people whose pain from advanced cancer is unrelieved by even the strongest narcotics. The first human study could begin by next year, at the NIH’s Bethesda, Md., hospital. A second study in pain-ridden dogs is slated for this summer at the University of Pennsylvania. If the research pans out, it might one day offer doctors, and veterinarians, a desperately needed new approach to attack intractable pain. And it’s from an unlikely source, a more potent cousin of the chemical that makes chili peppers hot. Why would a substance that feels like it’s burning a hole in your tongue – yes, one researcher tasted it – relieve pain, too? This fiery chemical, called resiniferatoxin or RTX, can poison certain nerve cells that control a type of heat-related, inflammatory pain, apparently eliminating one of the body’s pain-sensing systems. Yet [...]