July 2010 – Oral Cancer News

Featured clinical trial: electroacupuncture for radiation-induced chronic dry mouth

Source: www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin Author: staff Name of the Trial Randomized Pilot Study of Electroacupuncture for Chronic Radiation-induced Xerostomia in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer (MAYO-MCS285). See the protocol summary 1. Why This Trial Is Important Head and neck cancers are often treated with external-beam radiation therapy 2. Although this treatment can be effective in controlling head and neck tumors, it may cause side effects 3 that can compromise a patient’s quality of life. Chronic dry mouth, also called xerostomia, is common among patients treated with radiation to the head and neck. This condition results from damage to the glands that produce saliva. Chronic dry mouth can have a major impact 4 on quality of life by causing pain and discomfort, affecting the ability to sleep, altering taste, and/or increasing the likelihood of dental problems. Some drugs are available for xerostomia induced by radiation therapy, but many patients experience only a partial improvement or no benefit at all. The drug amifostine 5 can help protect the salivary glands of some head and neck cancer patients from radiation damage, but this drug cannot be used in all patients. Some studies have suggested that acupuncture 6 can help relieve the sensation of mouth dryness in cancer patients who have undergone head and neck radiation therapy. Based on these studies and other evidence, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ, are investigating the ability of a procedure called electroacupuncture to help improve the production of saliva and the quality of life of patients [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-07-31T08:00:30-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Dental researchers discover Human Beta Defensin-3 ignites in oral cancer growth

Source: www.sciencedaily.com Author: staff with material from Case Western Reserve University Detecting oral cancer in its earliest stages can save the lives of the nearly 40,500 people diagnosed annually. But early detection has been difficult. Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine researchers discovered a biomarker, called human beta defensin-3 (hBD-3), which may serve as an early warning. The defensin is present in all oral cancers and associated with the early stages of oral cancer. "Using the biomarker to detect oral cancer holds potential for saving lives when the cancer is most curable. Annually some 10,000 people die from this cancer," said Ge Jin, assistant professor of biological sciences at the dental school. He led the study, which appears in the online journal PLoS ONE, published by the Public Library of Science. Oral cancer first appears as white or red lesions in the mouth, the same as noncancerous lesions. Often, the lesions are not biopsied, and cancer is not discovered until it becomes apparent in its later stages, when it has metastasized to other organs. Such a late-stage diagnosis is generally fatal and can result in costly surgeries and treatments or disfigurement that may include removing parts of the tongue, jaw and cheek. All this can be avoided with early removal of the lesion. The hBD-3 biomarker is one of many innate immune peptides found in the epithelial lining of the mouth. In a normal, healthy oral cavity, hBD-1, -2 and -3 ward off the hundreds of bacteria that [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-07-31T07:03:36-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Herpes virus treats head and neck cancer patients

Source: www.healthcanal.com Author: staff A genetically engineered cold sore virus has been used to treat head and neck cancer patients in a Phase I/II clinical trial run by The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. The herpes simplex virus, known as OncoVEX and owned by BioVex Inc, had been modified so it multiplies inside cancer cells but not healthy cells. It bursts and kills tumour cells and, by expressing a human protein, it also helps stimulate patients’ immune systems. The virus was injected into 17 patients’ cancer-affected lymph nodes in up to four doses, and the patients were also given radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Head and neck tumour shrinkage could be seen on scans for 14 patients (82.3%), while 93 per cent of patients had no trace of residual cancer in their lymph nodes during subsequent surgery to remove them. After an average follow-up time of 29 months (19 to 40 months), 82.4 per cent of patients had not succumbed to the disease. Only two of 13 patients given the virus treatment at a high dose relapsed. “Around 35 to 55 per cent of patients given the standard chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment typically relapse within two years, so these results compare very favourably,” Principal Investigator Dr Kevin Harrington from the ICR and The Royal Marsden says. “This was a small study so the results should be interpreted with caution; however the very high rates of tumour response have led to the decision to take this [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-07-31T06:55:58-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Human papilloma virus (HPV) and cancer

Source: ezinearticles.com Author: David Warmflash, MD Human papilloma virus (HPV), is a category of viruses of which more than seventy subtypes are known. Most people have heard of HPV, because the media have spent a good deal of time discussing the issue of mandatory vaccination against the virus. The discussion in the news is well-deserved. Each year, approximately 6.2 million people are infected with (HPV). Usually, the virus is cleared by the immune system, before any disease can develop. However, because of the high rate of infection, HPV-associated disease is all-too common around the world. Each year 11,000 new cases of invasive cervical cancer are diagnosed in the United States, leading to approximately 4,000 deaths. The rate would be much higher, were it not for the advent of the the Papanicolaou test (Pap smear), used to screen for precancerous conditions since the 1930s. Since Pap smears and HPV vaccinations are hot topics, even if you have no background in medicine, it is likely that you are aware of HPV as an agent that causes cervical cancer. What you may not know, however, is that HPV also is involved in cancers of the throat and the skin. Actually, not all of the subtypes of HPV are known to be involved in the pathological process leading to cancer and precancerous conditions of the cervix. Of the HPV subtypes linked to cervical cancer, four types are most important. These are HPV-6b, HPV-11, HPV-16, and HPV-18, the latter two being the most dangerous for [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-07-31T06:49:25-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer survivor Byers driving to help others

Source: Standart.net Author: Staff Among the dozens of cars at this weekend's ARCA race at Pocono Raceway, one will stand out. Not for the color scheme or the lines. For the decals. When the No. 48 of Ricky Byers Racing rolls out onto the track, it won't be sporting the usual array of auto parts or alcoholic beverage stickers. Byers' red-and-black Ford Fusion will decorated for those who have made his dream a reality, the 90 or so people who have given the two-time throat cancer survivor a chance to fight back at the disease that nearly cost him his life. "It's the greatest feeling of my life," Byers said. "Those are the people who support what I'm doing, believe in what I'm doing and they've given me a chance to go out there and race for cancer." Byers has been around motorsports long as he can remember. His dad was a lifelong racer and little Ricky spent his early days racing motocross and go-carts before moving on to full-sized cars. The Birmingham, Ala., native went on to race for 20 years, winning five different track championships in Pony, Super Pony, Dwarf and Late Model cars. But when Byers was 33, his career took a back seat to something much bigger: a race for his life. Byers had lost his voice and wasn't able to get it back for weeks, but six different doctors told him it just was a sinus infection, that he had nothing to worry about. Then [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-07-30T16:13:29-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Evaluation of a multifaceted social marketing campaign to increase awareness of and screening for oral cancer in African Americans.

Source: Sanford University Authors: JM Jedele and AI Ismail Jedele JM, Ismail AI. Evaluation of a multifaceted social marketing campaign to increase awareness of and screening for oral cancer in African Americans. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2010; 38: 371-382. (c) 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S Abstract - Objectives: A 2-year social marketing media campaign and community education activities were organized to promote screening for oral cancer in a high-risk population in Detroit/Wayne County, Michigan. Long-term goals of the campaign were to reduce the oral cancer death rate, increase the proportion of oral cancers detected at an early stage, and increase the proportion of adults who report having been screened. The intermediate goals of the campaign were to increase awareness of oral cancer and of oral cancer screening. This article presents outcomes related to the intermediate goals of the campaign. Methods: The intermediate goals of the campaign were assessed by the number of calls to a toll-free hotline, which media venues led to calls, number of screenings conducted by the free screening clinic, number of precancers and cancers detected, and the number of sessions conducted, organizations involved, and persons participating in the community education program. The costs per screened case and cancers detected were also evaluated. The media campaign promoted screening using billboards, radio and newspaper ads, and a toll-free hotline. Culturally relevant messages were developed collaboratively with focus groups representing the target audience. Billboards were placed in highly visible locations around Detroit, Michigan. Sixty-second messages on the impact of [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-07-27T12:28:38-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Does framing Human Papillomavirus Vaccine as preventing cancer in men increase vaccine acceptability?

Source: Stanford University Authors: AL McRee, PL Reiter, K Chantala, and NT Brewer Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is now approved for use in males in the United States to prevent genital warts. We conducted an experiment to see whether framing HPV vaccination as also preventing cancer in men would increase men's vaccination willingness. Methods: We conducted an online survey in January 2009 with a national sample of men ages 18 to 59 years who self-identified as gay/bisexual (n = 312) or heterosexual (n = 296). In the within-subjects experiment, men read four randomly ordered vignettes that described hypothetical vaccines that prevented either genital warts alone, or genital warts and either anal cancer, oral cancer, or penile cancer. We analyzed data using repeated measures ANOVA and tested whether perceived severity or perceived likelihood mediated the effect of disease outcome framing on men's HPV vaccination willingness. Results: Although only 42% of men were willing to receive HPV vaccine when it was framed as preventing genital warts alone, 60% were willing to get it when it was framed as preventing cancer in addition to genital warts (P < 0.001). The effect of outcome framing was the same for heterosexual and gay/bisexual men and for the three cancer types examined. Perceived severity of disease partially mediated the association between disease outcome and HPV vaccination willingness. Conclusions: Men may be more accepting of HPV vaccine when it is framed as preventing cancer, regardless which of the three most common HPV-related cancers in men is [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-07-31T06:51:17-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Ohio pastor to turn over dead brother’s estate

Source: Dayton Daily News Author: Staff MONROE, Ohio — The co-pastor of an Ohio megachurch where a 62-foot-tall Jesus statue was struck by lightning said she will turn her brother's estate over to her nephew after years of family feuding. Solid Rock Church co-pastor Darlene Bishop has held control of the estate of her brother, country music songwriter Darrell "Wayne" Perry, who died of throat cancer in 2005 at age 55. Perry's songs included Tim McGraw's "Not a Moment Too Soon," Toby Keith's "A Woman's Touch" and Lorrie Morgan's hit, "What Part Of No." Perry's four children say Bishop hastened her brother's death in 2005 by promising to use prayer, instead of medical treatment, to cure his throat cancer. Sixty-five-year-old Bishop says she encouraged her brother to see a doctor, but he refused. "All of (his children's) accusations against me were not warranted," Bishop said. Sixty-five-year-old Bishop and her husband, Lawrence, founded the Solid Rock Church in southwest Ohio in 1978. It grew from a dozen congregants in a tin-roofed building with folding chairs into a megachurch with 13 churches in the Philippines and an orphanage in Brazil. The Dayton Daily News reports that Darlene Bishop Ministries made more than $1.3 million in 2007, the last year for which complete IRS records were available. "She thrives on fame and stardom and shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue," said Bishop's nephew Bryan Wayne Perry. "I'm ashamed that the same blood runs through our veins." In one of Bishop's books, she says God [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-07-26T12:51:04-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Vaccines might help fight throat cancer, but hurdles are high

Source: www.npr.org Author: Chao Deng There's been a big and controversial push to protect girls from cervical cancer by vaccinating them against the human papillomavirus. Turns out, the same vaccine might also protect boys from developing throat cancer later in life. Researchers estimate HPV causes more than 11,000 cases of throat cancers in the U.S. each year. Many are cropping up in younger people, especially in white men. Changes in sexual behavior have led to an increase in that could mean more than 20,000 cases annually by 2015, Forbes reports. So wouldn't you think that a growing market like that would be attractive to makers of HPV vaccines? Not so much, it turns out. Merck's Gardasil vaccine is approved for use in boys, but only to protect against genital warts. And a company spokeswoman told us in an email that Merck isn't looking to pursue approval of a throat-cancer indication anytime soon because of "competing research and business priorities." Same goes for Glaxo, according to Forbes. A big hurdle is that doctors can't screen for throat cancer the way they can for cervical cancer with a Pap smear. Without a simple test, it's harder to show the HPV vaccine reduces the risk of throat cancer. And that, in turn, makes it harder for vaccine makers to run a study that will pass muster with the Food and Drug Administration. But the outlook isn't completely bleak. Ohio State researcher Maura Gillison, who got funding for a pilot vaccine study [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-07-25T20:21:36-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Dispatch: get vaccinated!

Source: American Council on Science and Health Author: Staff According to U.S. researchers, there are an estimated 11,300 throat cancer cases attributable to human papilloma virus (HPV) annually, although the government does not formally track the incidence rate since the connection between HPV and throat cancer was only made in the past few years. The rate is expected to rise since people have more sexual partners now than in decades past. “Unfortunately, many people are unaware of the connection between HPV and throat cancer since it is so underreported. I’m especially concerned for kids who engage in oral sexual activities under the mistaken belief that this is ‘safe sex,’ and it’s not,” warns ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. Though also alarmed by the increasing rate of throat cancer caused by infection with HPV, ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross was more perturbed to learn that drug makers are resistant to study the use of HPV vaccines — now used to prevent cervical cancer in women and anal warts in males — for the prevention of oral cancer. “I was disconcerted to read that the two manufacturers of the HPV vaccine, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, are not interested in pursuing this topic of prevention,” laments Dr. Ross. “Since there is no easy way to detect pre-cancers in the oral cavity, a clinical trial could take 10 to 20 years to complete. However, it is obvious that eliminating the virus through the use of vaccination would stop our current epidemic.”

Charlotte Parker2010-07-25T20:14:29-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|