10/29/2007 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada press release CNNMoney.com Biomira Inc. announced today that preclinical data for its targeted anti-cancer drug candidates PX-478 and PX-866 were presented in a poster session yesterday at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, which is being held October 22-26 in San Francisco. The data may help to guide future clinical studies of these innovative small molecule compounds. A Phase 1 trial of PX-478 in patients with advanced metastatic cancers is in progress. Biomira expects to file an Investigational New Drug application for PX-866 early in 2008. The PX-478 data (Abstract #284) provide insight into how and under what conditions the compound inhibits the activity of its target, the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1 alpha). PX-478 works by a unique mechanism, decreasing both HIF-1 alpha gene expression and protein synthesis. This leads to a significant reduction in the amount and activity of HIF-1 alpha in the tumor. The results show that PX-478 is highly specific for HIF-1 alpha and does not inhibit the levels of any of the other proteins tested. Additionally, this inhibitory effect is independent of the tumor suppressor genes VHL and p53, genes that may significantly impact how cancer cells respond to a variety of therapeutic interventions. "Hypoxia is a feature of many solid tumors and HIF-1 alpha is the tumor's primary survival response to this stress," said Dr. Garth Powis, Director, Center for Targeted Therapy, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, and senior author of the abstract. "Inhibiting both [...]

10/26/2007 New York, NY staff CBS News (www.cbsnews.com) Colleen Zenk Pinter, Of "As the World Turns," Had Oral Cancer On Her Tongue Doctors tell us to wear sunscreen and hats to prevent skin cancer, and get tested for prostate cancer and cervical cancer. But did you know oral cancer kills more people than any of those others? And it's been occurring in more and more women, and has now been linked to the same HPV virus associated with cervical cancer. Colleen Zenk Pinter, who's played Barbara Ryan on the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns" for almost 30 years, has been involved in a real-life drama, fighting oral cancer, a potential killer few people have even heard of, for the past seven months. She discussed the medical and professional challenges it posed with co-anchor Hannah Storm on The Early Show Thursday. Pinter, 54, who doesn't smoke or drink, told Storm that, at first, she thought she had a common canker sore, which went away. But when it came back and persisted, she saw her doctor, who had her go to a specialist the next day. Three surgeries later, including removal and reconstruction of part of, and the insertion of radioactive beads in her tongue, she's been declared cancer-free. The only noticeable lingering effect is a slight lisp, and she's been back at work. Pinter says fans thought she'd had a stroke, or dental work done. She stressed to Storm that everyone should be screened for oral cancer on a [...]

10/24/2007 Newport Beach, CA Keri Kramer Forbes.com For the public health, we need to fast-track research and approvals now, says foundation On the heels of a study published this month in the journal Cancer, and recent supporting science related to HPV and oral cancer in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Oral Cancer Foundation is urging researchers to expedite investigations on the safety of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations for males, and the FDA to fast track the approval once scientific due diligence has been accomplished. “The study affirms what we have long believed, namely that the vaccine can reduce oral cancer rates if given to both males and females,” says Brian Hill, Founder and Executive Director of the foundation. Currently, the vaccine, which shields against HPV strains 6, 11, 16 and 18, is administered to girls and adolescent females to protect against cervical cancer. Deaths from cervical cancer, which number about 3,700 annually, have steadily declined due to improved methods of early detection, and a population that knows the importance of annual screenings. Oral cancer also lends itself to early detection through a simple visual and tactile examination which could easily be implemented, but does not have a nationally adopted program of public awareness and compliant professionals engaged in such a screening process. In the US, 93 people per day will develop oral cancer, and one person will die from it every hour. This is more than double the death rate of cervical cancers, and is higher than that [...]

10/23/2007 Colorado Springs, CO Brian Newsome Colorado Springs Gazette (gazette.com) Several years ago, Dr. Joel Ernster noticed something strange in his Colorado Springs ear, nose and throat practice. A man with no history of heavy smoking or drinking developed an uncommon throat cancer usually caused by such habits. Over time, there were dozens more like him. Ernster investigated the trend and after three years of research has found what appears to be the answer: a virus likely transmitted by oral sex. In a study to be published in coming months in The Laryngoscope, a leading medical journal for ear, nose and throat specialists, the physician connects a significant increase in throat-cancer cases among men to the human papilloma virus that causes cervical cancer in women. Men probably obtain the virus by performing oral sex on women who have an HPV infection of the cervix. Ernster said the cancer could develop as late as 20 years after the oral sex occurred. “Oral sex has implications that are way beyond what we first thought,” he said. Ernster’s research is the latest in a growing body of studies that have established a connection between the HPV virus and oropharyngeal (throat) cancer. A study published online in August and in print this month in the journal Cancer similarly suggests that a rise in throat cancer among men younger than 45 can be attributed to the HPV virus. Why cases among young men are increasing is unclear, but Ernster and others believe oral sex generally [...]

10/23/2007 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada staff Canadian Press (candianpress.google.com) An increasing number of patients have a new decision to make when they go to the dentist, above and beyond choosing tooth whitening or the flavour of a fluoride rinse. When patients visit the dental office of Dr. Mark Suyama in Vancouver, they're asked if they'd like an oral cancer screening using the VELscope, a device invented at the B.C. Cancer Agency. An estimated 500 Canadian dentists and about 1,500 in other parts of the world have purchased the $5,000 piece of equipment for their practices, according to John Pohl, a spokesman for LED Dental of White Rock, B.C., which has been selling the product since the middle of last year. Suyama got his VELscope, which uses blue light aimed into the oral cavity, about three months ago. The healthy tissue glows as an apple-green colour, while a problem area that might indicate a pre-cancerous lesion shows up darker. "It's very easy. It's just like using a flashlight almost - just like shining a flashlight in someone's mouth," Suyama said. "We're offering it to everybody, but we're charging $45 and that's not always covered by dental insurance. So some people are hesitant to spend the money." Calum MacAulay, a research scientist at the cancer agency, says the agency has been involved in the study and use of tissue autofluorescence for early cancer detection in other parts of the body. "Three or four years ago I was listening to a colleague talk [...]

10/22/2007 Washingon, D.C. press release EurekAlert.com A patient’s positive or negative emotional state has no direct or indirect effect on cancer survival or disease progression, according to a large scale new study. Published in the December 1, 2007 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study found that emotional well-being was not an independent factor affecting the prognosis of head and neck cancers. The question of whether or not the mind, through psychological state and emotional status, has the ability to heal organic disease in the body continues to be reviewed and tested in human health research. A large body of evidence strongly suggests that, for life-threatening diseases such as advanced cancer, it does not. However, this debate continues in popular and scientific circles. Particular importance has been attached to the question because of the belief that if it can be shown that emotions affect the outcome of cancer, then psychotherapy might be able to aid in the fight against cancer. Dr. James Coyne and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania say previous studies used patients with many different diseases, small sample sizes and an inadequate number of deaths to be conclusive. Dr. Coyne’s team analyzed data from two community studies of patients with head and neck cancer “to examine whether emotional well being at study entry predicted survival.” Their approach had the methodological strengths of using a homogenous population and many deaths to detect even small statistically significant effects. The sample included 1,093 patients [...]

10/21/2007 Montreal, Quebec, Canada Michael Smith, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today MedPageToday.com Viral testing to detect cervical cancer appears to outperform the conventional Pap smear in some respects, researchers here have concluded. In a randomized trial, a test for the human papillomavirus was significantly more likely (P=0.01) to identify cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) than a Pap smear, found Marie-Hélène Mayrand, M.D., of McGill University, and colleagues. On the other hand, the viral test was significantly more likely (P<0.001) to identify a healthy woman as having CIN, the researchers reported in the Oct. 18 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The Canadian study is one of two in the journal comparing testing for HPV with the conventional Pap test. In the other, Swedish scientists showed that a viral test appears to detect pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions earlier than the Pap test. The study comes just a few weeks after a study in Holland produced similar results. (See: DNA Tests for HPV Improve Cervical Cancer Screening) But the findings don't mean that viral tests are ready for "prime time," said Carolyn Runowicz, M.D., of the University of Connecticut. Dr. Runowicz, who wrote an accompanying editorial in the journal, said the results are "exciting" but preliminary. Among other things, she said, their application to U.S. practice is limited: Both studies used a slide-based Pap test, while 85% of tests done in the U.S. use liquid-based cytology, and the Swedish study used a highly sensitive viral test that is not [...]

10/21/2007 Minneapolis, MN Crystal Phend, Staff Writer, MedPage Today MedPageToday.com Even devoid of smoke, tobacco remains a carcinogen hazard, found researchers here. Smokeless tobacco exposes users to at least as much of a potent carcinogen as smoking tobacco does, despite claims that it is a safer alternative, reported Stephen S. Hecht, Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota, and colleagues, in the August issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Smokeless tobacco users had 73% higher levels of a biomarker for a nitrosamine carcinogen known as NNK than did smokers in pooled analysis of six studies (P<0.0001), they found. NNK (4-[methylnitrosamino]-1-[3-pyridyl]-1-butanone) is the worst of the strong carcinogens most prevalent in smokeless tobacco, they said. In animals, it has been shown to induce tumors in the lung, pancreas, nasal mucosa, and liver. Their findings represent "an unacceptable risk" and weigh against oral snuff as a healthier substitute for smoking, they said. "Long-term use of nicotine replacement therapy may be a better option." Smokeless tobacco has been considered less toxic and carcinogenic than smoking because it has less of the harmful substances formed by burning the tobacco, they noted. Therefore, some tobacco control experts have suggested that smokers who cannot quit could switch to "low nitrosamine" smokeless tobacco to reduce their health risks, they said. To see if this claim was true, the researchers used data collected at baseline from three intervention studies of smokers and three of smokeless tobacco users. The 420 smokers (62% men) averaged 25.8 cigarettes per day. The [...]

10/21/2007 Houston, TX1 Crystal Phend, Staff Writer, MedPage Today MedPageToday.com Human papillomavirus infections are likely buoying up oropharyngeal cancer rates while other head and neck cancers decline, researchers said. Cancer-causing HPV strains have been implicated in half of oropharyngeal cancers, and 90% of HPV-related cases have been pinpointed to HPV-16 in studies, said Erich M. Sturgis, M.D., M.P.H., and Paul M. Cinciripini, M.D., both of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center here, in a review published online in the journal Cancer. One of the reasons, the researchers suggested is the "changing sexual practices, such as more frequent oral sex in adolescents and young adults." To hasten throat cancer's decline, vaccination of boys and and men against oncogenic strains HPV-16 and HPV-18 should be considered, they suggested. "The current vaccination strategy [suggested for girls and young women ages nine to 26] will only benefit men secondarily as the cohort of vaccinated women age and the incidence of chronic oncogenic HPV infection in the sexually active female population declines," the investigators wrote. This effect may take a generation to achieve, they said. Notes: 1. Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. 2. Dr. Cinciripini reported having been a consultant for Sanofi-Aventis, Glaxo-SmithKline, Xenova, and Pfizer. To speed up the potential benefit in the prevention of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancers, Drs. Sturgis and Cinciripini recommended "the rapid study of the efficacy and safety of these vaccines in males and, if successful, the recommendation of vaccination in [...]