June 2009 – Page 5 – Oral Cancer News

Career choice determines cancer risk, study finds

Source: www.yle.fi Author: staff A new study shows that cancer risk could depend on a person’s job description. A recently released Nordic study shows how different careers contribute to different forms and incident rates of cancer. Lifestyle factors that are linked to specific careers are often a major influence on who gets cancer and who does not. For example the study found that male bar workers had the highest incidents of developing cancer. Workers in the restaurant and bar industry were most likely to get cancer of the larynx, mouth, tongue, liver, lung, urinary tract and colon. It is more acceptable for workers to smoke and drink alcohol at a bar or restaurant than for example at a school, the study found. The study found that tobacco, asbestos and alcohol – especially in combination with each other – are the biggest cancer-causing factors. Male plumbers who have been exposed to asbestos have a 20 percent higher risk of developing some form of cancer than, for example, farmers. Lung cancer is six times more common in women who work as machine operator compared with their female farming counterparts. Incidents of breast cancer are highest among women who go through long years of education to reach career goals. For example, many female doctors and dentists wait longer than other groups before having children, which itself raises the risk of breast cancer. Not only workers at risk But it is not merely the employed and educated that see an increased risk. Unemployed men [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-06-03T04:54:13-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Oxygen and MRI may determine best cancer treatment

Source: www.allheadlinenews.com Author: David Goodhue A combination of a basic magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, test and breathing oxygen may determine the best course for treating some cancer patients, University of Texas, Southwestern researchers said. Researchers have demonstrated before that the amount of oxygen present in a tumor can be a predictor in its response to treatment. Tumors with little oxygen typically grow stronger and are resistant to chemotherapy and radiation. But the only way to measure the oxygen level in tumors was to insert a large needle directly into the growth. Dr. Ralph Mason, a professor of radiology at the University of Texas, Southwestern, said a technique known as a blood oxygen level dependent, or BOLD, MRI, can detect oxygen levels in tumors noninvasively. The patient only has to breathe oxygen when undergoing the MRI, according to a UT Southwestern press release. "The patient simply inhales pure oxygen, which them circulated through the bloodstream, including to the tumors," Mason said in a statement. A report of Mason and his colleagues' research will appear in a future edition of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. BOLD MRIs are not new to the medical profession. They have been used extensively in studying brain function. Doctors at UT Southwestern have begun using them to treat patients with cervical, prostate and head and neck cancers.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-06-03T04:48:29-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

FDA bad news for snus?

Source: www.cspnet.com Author: staff The subject of putting tobacco under the control of the federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has divided the industry. Such regulation may also end product innovation, according to Forbes magazine. The report cites Reynolds American Inc.'s Camel Snus, the spit-free flavored pouch of pasteurized tobacco sold chilled in tins, as an example of the kind of innovation may be the last of its kind after this year's tobacco regulation bill, sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), turns into law. The legislation is expected to easily pass through the Senate on Tuesday or Wednesday, after getting cleared by the House in April, and then quickly get a presidential signature. After test runs in Columbus, Ohio, and Portland, Ore., three years ago, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Winston-Salem, N.C., now sells Camel Snus in 100,000 locations nationwide. A tin of 15 costs $4.50. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage.) The bill has divided the industry. Altria Group Inc., which makes market-leading Marlboro cigarettes though Phillip Morris USA, Richmond, Va., helped write the bill, which critics say will institutionalize that company's market share. The No. 2 tobacco maker, Reynolds American, which makes Camels through RJR, has been waging the battle against it. Altria is testing Marlboro Snus in Dallas and Indianapolis. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of Altria's other tobacco products strategy.) Kennedy's bill would allow the FDA to play gatekeeper to tobacco products like snus and newer smokeless tobacco lozenges and sticks. The [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-06-02T20:50:28-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

DNA therapy for head and neck cancer

Source: Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology 6, 302 (June 2009) Author: Mandy Aujla Researchers have developed an antisense EGFR sequence to target EGFR, and found that this approach was safe and effective in patients with advanced squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Standard treatment for this type of cancer is suboptimal. Various drugs have been developed to block this increased signaling, such as cetuximab and erlotinib. These agents, however, have had limited success when used as monotherapy in treating squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Despite encouraging preclinical data these agents produce low response rates and are associated with toxic effects. Therefore, alternative approaches that target EGFR are needed. In this phase I trial, Lai and colleagues evaluated the safety and toxicity of EGFR antisense DNA therapy in 20 patients with advanced squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck. All patients included in the study had advanced disease that was unresponsive to standard therapies. The researchers tested six levels of the antisense EGFR at doses ranging from 60 to 1,920 g per injection, with three patients in each dose tier. The antisense EGFR was injected into the most accessible single tumor lesion once a week for 4 weeks. A biopsy was performed within 2 weeks of the final injection. A total of 17 patients completed the treatment course and were available for assessment. Of the five patients who achieved a clinical response, two had a complete response and three achieved a partial response. Two other patients had stable disease. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-06-02T17:45:23-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

New broad-spectrum vaccine to prevent cervical cancer induces strong responses in animals

Source: Journal of the National Cancer Institute Author: Staff Wednesday, May 27, 2009 Mice and rabbits immunized with a multimeric-L2 protein vaccine had robust antibody responses and were protected from infection when exposed to human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 four months after vaccination, according to a new study published in the May 26 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Current HPV L1-based vaccines are almost 100% protective against infection by the two HPV types that are responsible for 70% of all cervical cancer cases world wide. However, the existing vaccines provide limited protection against the other HPV types that cause cancer. With that limitation in mind, Richard Roden, Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and colleagues have been working on an alternate vaccine that is based on the HPV minor capsid protein L2, which is highly conserved between HPV types. Previous experiments showed that the L2 protein induced only a weak antibody response in animals. In the current study, Roden and colleagues linked together a short segment of the L2 protein from several HPV types to generate a single multimeric L2 fusion protein. They tested the ability of this multimeric-L2 protein to induce antibody responses in animals and its ability to protect them from subsequent infection with HPV type 16. Mice immunized with the multimeric L2 vaccine developed robust antibody responses against all of the HPV types tested, although the antibody titer was still lower than the type-restricted responses following vaccination with an existing [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-06-02T20:49:51-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Trial shows cancer vaccine success

Source: Channel4news.com Author: Staff A vaccine against a sexually transmitted disease which causes most forms of cervical cancer can protect older women, according to a new study. Women aged from 24 to 45 who have not already been infected with the human papilloma virus (HPV) can be protected by the HPV vaccine, according to an article published in the medical journal The Lancet. HPV is a sexually transmitted disease which is responsible for most forms of cervical cancer. Trials were conducted with over 3,000 women in the relevant age group who had not been infected with HPV. Half were given a placebo and half were given a vaccine which protects against four strains of HPV. The researchers found that four cases of infection occurred in the vaccine group compared to 41 in the placebo group – meaning the vaccine was 91 per cent effective against all four virus strains. Looking at HPV 16 and 18 only, which are responsible for 70 per cent of cases of cervical cancer, four cases occurred in the vaccine group compared with 23 in the placebo group, meaning the vaccine was 83 per cent effective. When trials were conducted with women who had already been infected with HPV, the vaccine was only 30 per cent effective. The report's author, Dr Nubia Muñoz, therefore suggested that the public health benefit of vaccinating the older age group could potentially be less cost-effective than vaccinating teenagers who were less likely to have been sexually active. Currently teenage [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-06-02T11:14:02-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|