September 2011 – Oral Cancer News

New Study Indicates Tobacco Industry Was Aware of Their Own Products Dangers

Source: USA Today Tobacco companies knew for decades that cigarette smoke was radioactive and potentially carcinogenic but kept that information from the public, according to a new study. The tobacco industry began investigations into the possible effects of these radioactive particles, identified as polonium-210, on smokers as early as the 1960s, says the study by UCLA researchers who analyzed dozens of previously unexamined industry documents. "I've not seen a document before that's specifically cited the industry's own internal research finding that sufficient levels of polonium-210 can cause cancer," says Matt Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. He says the study reinforces the need for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to scrutinize tobacco products. This week, the FDA began requiring tobacco companies to disclose detailed information about new products and changes to existing ones. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, suggests the FDA make removal of the radioative particles from tobacco products a top priority. "We used to think that only the chemicals in the cigarettes were causing lung cancer," said Hrayr S. Karagueuzian, lead author of the study. Now, Karagueuzian said, the industry's own research shows that polonium-210, absorbed by tobacco leaves and inhaled by smokers, is dangerous. He said UCLA researchers found that the radioactivity could cause 120 to 138 deaths for every 1,000 regular smokers over a 25-year period. Karagueuzian said tobacco companies have declined techniques that could help eliminate polonium-210 from tobacco because of concern that smokers might lose the "instant [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-30T22:15:38-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

New HPV Study Proves Vaccine’s Effectiveness

Source: Cancer.gov A flurry of new research findings on a vaccine that prevents persistent infections by cancer-causing types of the human papillomavirus (HPV) has confirmed the vaccine's efficacy and opened new avenues for research. The results, published in three separate reports, suggest that the vaccine could be simpler to administer and more affordable than researchers had previously thought—and that the vaccine may also have unexpected benefits. All three studies originate from an ongoing clinical trial of Cervarix in Costa Rica. The new findings could help inform efforts to develop vaccination programs to prevent cervical cancer in countries around the world, the researchers said. "The results from our trial and from other trials are extremely promising for this vaccine," said Dr. Allan Hildesheim of NCI's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), a leader of the trial. "And they suggest that the impact of the vaccine may go beyond cervical disease." HPV infections can lead to cancers of the anus, vagina, vulva, penis, and some oropharyngeal cancers, in addition to cervical cancer. Cervarix is one of two HPV vaccines currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to prevent these infections; the other is Gardasil. One of the studies found that fewer than the prescribed three doses of Cervarix may offer the same protection as the full course. If confirmed, this could make vaccination easier to administer and more affordable, factors that are especially important in developing countries that have high rates of cervical cancer. A second study from the Costa [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-27T11:19:48-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

HPV Vaccine and Premarital-Sex Controversy

Source: The News Tribune Some perspective is needed on the controversy over the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine that arose after a recent Republican presidential debate. The best way to do that is to take sex out of the equation. Instead of preventing a sexually transmitted disease that can lead to cervical cancer in women and oral cancer in men, let’s say the HPV vaccine guarded against a fictional virus that caused breast cancer and prostate cancer. Wouldn’t most parents jump at the chance to decrease the chances of their children contracting those potentially deadly cancers? Only the most hard-core anti-vaccine holdout would say no. Which gets us back to the sex part of the HPV equation and why some otherwise rational people don’t think children should be inoculated against it. They oppose the HPV vaccine – Cervarix or Gardasil – because they fear that removing one of the consequences of premarital sex would encourage it. It’s a weak argument. The fear of STDs and pregnancy hasn’t put much of a damper on teens having sex, so it’s hard to see why the chance of developing cancer several years down the road would slow them down. They also know that smoking can cause lung cancer, but many still do it. Sometimes parents have to do things to protect kids from themselves – and teens from their hormones. Most young people will not wait until marriage to have sexual relations; parents who think not getting their children vaccinated against HPV will deter [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-27T10:32:53-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

MRI can show jaw invasion of oral cancer

Source: www.medpagetoday.com Author: Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer Oral cancer's spread to the mandible could not hide from a type of MRI that may facilitate more accurate staging and surgical planning, data from laboratory studies suggest. Sweep imaging with Fourier transform (SWIFT) provided fine-detail views of cortical and medullary bone specimens, and the images exhibited good correlation with histopathologic findings. The in-vitro studies did not specifically examine SWIFT's ability to identify early cortical bone invasion by oral cancer. However, the high-quality images obtained from the investigation provide reason for optimism, the researchers reported in the September issue of Archives of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. "Our study is very promising in that it offers a SWIFT-based MRI technique for accurate assessment of minute changes of cortical and medullary bone in three dimensions without any ionizing radiation," Ayse Tuba Karagulle Kendi, MD, of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and co-authors wrote. "It has the potential to precisely determine the extent of mandibular bone invasion associated with oral carcinoma. This study is a crucial step toward the goal of developing a robust and noninvasive approach for preoperative imaging of mandibular invasion," they added. Carcinoma of the oral cavity often spreads to the mandible, but in many instances does not cross the periosteal layer, obviating the need for mandibulectomy. Limitations of current imaging techniques often preclude determination of bone invasion prior to surgery, the authors noted. MRI and CT have been used most often to evaluate mandibular invasion of oral cancer, but conventional [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-23T16:35:59-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Researchers find potential new therapeutic strategy for head and neck cancer

Source: www.uab.edu Author: Beena Thannickal Shih-Hsin (Eddy) Yang, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor in the UAB Department of Radiation Oncology and associate scientist in the experimental therapeutics program at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, found a way to prevent head and neck cancer cells from repairing damage to DNA as they grow. The findings, published by the Public Library of Science, showed that using the drug cetuximab can induce a DNA repair defect in head and neck cancer cells, and subsequently render the tumors susceptible to PARP inhibitors, which block enzymes that repair some types of DNA damage. This method prevents cancer cells from repairing the damage to the DNA as they grow, ultimately leading to cancer inhibition. Poly ADP-ribose polymerases, or PARPs, are enzymes that repair some types of damage done to DNA. If they are inhibited, a backup repair pathway is initiated. Cetuximab, which inhibits the epidermal growth factor receptor signaling pathway of cancer cells, blocks this backup pathway and thus induces cancer cell death. “The novelty of this finding is that we use targeted agents like cetuximab, in combination with a PARP inhibitor, ABT-888, both of which have already been tested to be safe in humans, to selectively kill tumors defective in DNA repair while potentially minimizing side effects,” says Yang. Cetuximab was pioneered by James Bonner, M.D., chair of the UAB Department of Radiation Oncology, in a landmark multi-institutional clinical trial in head and neck cancer patients. Because head and neck cancers are frequently aggressive, outcomes [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-23T16:29:08-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

HPV links to throat cancer in males

Source: www.thesimmonsvoice.com Author: Emese Nemeth Whether it is your first year or you are returning to college, there are always emails and pamplets about immunizations. While some vaccines are mandatory for public safety and health, vaccines such as Gardasil (also known as Silgard) for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) are not. While some may argue that it is relatively new vaccine and side effects may be uncertain, the benefits are starting to out-weigh the risks. Gardasil was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2006 to vaccinate against the four most common strains of HPV: types 6, 11, 16 and 18. Seventy percent of cervical cancer is caused by types 16 and 18. Types 16 and 18 are also known to cause HPV induced cancer of the anus, vulva, vagina and penis. The other two types, 6 and 11 are known to cause ninety percent of genital wart cases. More recently, HPV has been linked to induce throat cancer, specifically, oropharyngeal cancer. The American Society of Clinical Oncology also believes that "the annual occurrence of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer among men will surpass that of cervical cancer among women by the year 2020." Why throat cancer is more prevalent in men is still unclear, but throat cancer still affects both sexes with 6,700 cases of HPV-positive oropharynx cancers in 2010. While cervical cancer is on the decline due to regular pap smears, throats are only examined due to pain or unusual symptoms. Although Gardasil does not claim to prevent throat [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-23T16:21:46-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Trying to improve oral cancer treatment

Source: abclocal.go.com Author: staff It's a journey that can begin in the mirror or at the dentist's office. A small lesion in the mouth or throat can turn out to be oral cancer. Notoriously known to be unpredictable, these cancers are hard to treat, but some young doctors at the New York University's School of Dentistry are working to change that. Oral cancers take one American life every hour and it's because the unpredictability is a challenge. One person's cancer might be slow growing and another's wildly aggressive. It is impossible to tell which it is. The NYU researchers are trying to decipher their instruction codes, their genomics. If doctors know which way the cancer is going, it can be stopped. Halima Mohammed always carries water she constantly needs to drink. She is also a big consumer of fruits and vegetables. The reason: for nine years she has been fighting an oral cancer. "I can't have solid food so I get my nutrition from juices and most of these foods, especially the cabbage and the broccoli, are cancer fighting foods," she said. The cancer has had a huge impact on her life. She's already lost part of her tongue. "It is from my research one of the most painful type of cancers that you can have and I'm not diminishing cancer and the types of cancer, there is a constant pain, constant pain," said Mohammed. "It makes masticating difficult, swallowing difficult. You cannot have your favorite food anymore." But, Mohammed [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-23T16:16:45-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Screening For HPV Persistence And Cervical Cancer Risk

Source: Medical News Today Women over the age of thirty who test positive for HPV (Human Papillomavirus) should be re-tested two years later as part of cervical cancer screening, according to a study published online TK in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. HPV infection is the main cause of cervical cancer, although most women infected with HPV do not have cervical pathology and most HPV infections in women under the age of 25 go away. Screening is recommended for women over age thirty, and the type of HPV strain to screen for is important, since only some are associated with cervical cancer risk. Furthermore, only persistently detectable infections seem to be associated with cervical cancer risk. However, few long-term studies have been done on the persistence of these infections and cervical cancer risk. To determine the association between persistent HPV infections and cervical cancer risk in women over the age of thirty, Hui-Chi Chen, PhD, of the Genomics Research Center of Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan, and colleagues, followed a cohort of 11,923 women aged 30 over a period of 16 years. The women underwent baseline exams that included HPV DNA testing and cytological tests, and the tests were repeated two years later. Incidence of cervical cancer was determined from cancer registries and death registries. In total, 6,666 women participated in both baseline and second visits, whereas the other 3,456 patients underwent only the first exam. The researchers found that the 16-year risk of cervical cancer was 6.2% [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-20T11:15:10-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Prevalence and Treatment Management of Oropharyngeal Candidiasis in Cancer Patients: Results of the French Candidoscope Study

Source: RedJournal.org Purpose The aim of this pharmaco-epidemiological study was to evaluate the prevalence of oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC) in cancer patients treated with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Methods and Materials Signs and symptoms of OPC were noted for all patients. Antifungal therapeutic management was recorded in OPC patients. Patients receiving local antifungal treatments were monitored until the end of treatment. Results Enrolled in the study were 2,042 patients with solid tumor and/or lymphoma treated with chemotherapy and/or another systemic cancer treatment and/or radiotherapy. The overall prevalence of OPC was 9.6% (95% confidence interval, 8.4%–11.0%] in this population. It was most frequent in patients treated with combined chemoradiotherapy (22.0%) or with more than two cytotoxic agents (16.9%). Local antifungal treatments were prescribed in 75.0% of OPC patients as recommended by guidelines. The compliance to treatment was higher in patients receiving once-daily miconazole mucoadhesive buccal tablet (MBT; 88.2%) than in those treated with several daily mouthwashes of amphotericin B (40%) or nystatin (18.8%). Conclusion OPC prevalence in treated cancer patients was high. Local treatments were usually prescribed as per guidelines. Compliance to local treatments was better with once-daily drugs. This news story was resourced by the Oral Cancer Foundation, and vetted for appropriateness and accuracy.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-20T10:51:07-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Palifermin Decreases Severe Oral Mucositis of Patients Undergoing Postoperative Radiochemotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial

Source: OncologyStat.com TAKE-HOME MESSAGE This randomized, placebo-controlled trial found that weekly palifermin was associated with decreased incidence and duration of severe oral mucositis in patients undergoing postoperative chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer. SUMMARY OncologySTAT Editorial Team Combined chemoradiotherapy (CRT) offers improved outcomes after resection of locally advanced head and neck cancer but also increases the risk of oral mucositis, a debilitating and potentially dose-limiting toxicity of locoregional treatment. Palifermin, an analogue of keratinocyte growth factor, is FDA approved to prevent and treat mucositis in patients undergoing high-dose myelotoxic therapy for hematologic malignancies. In this multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, Henke et al evaluated whether palifermin reduces severe oral mucositis in patients undergoing CRT after surgical resection of locally advanced head and neck cancer. Adult patients receiving postoperative CRT for high-risk stage II to IVB head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and with an ECOG performance status of 0 to 2 were enrolled from 38 centers in Europe, Australia, and Canada. Eligible study patients were stratified by tumor location (oral cavity/oropharynx or hypopharynx/larynx) and residual tumor (R0 [complete resection] or R1 [incomplete resection]). Study patients received a radiation dose of 60 Gy (R0 group) or 66 Gy (R1 group) plus cisplatin 100 mg/m2 on days 1 and 22, with the study drug administered 3 days prior to starting CRT and then weekly for 6 weeks. Patients who underwent radiotherapy after 6 weeks received an additional 100 mg/m2 of cisplatin and study drug. Oral saline rinses, topical anesthetics, feeding tubes, and hematopoietic [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-20T10:21:43-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|