Immune-related gene may predispose to HPV-related cancer

Source: bcm.eduAuthor: Julia Parsons An international coalition of cancer specialists led by a researcher now at Baylor College of Medicine has identified an immune related gene called transforming growth factor beta receptor 1 (TGFBR1) that appears to play an important role in determining whether a person develops a cancer related to human papilloma virus (HPV). HPV is, in particular, associated with anal cancer and cancers of the cervix, and the head and neck. Their findings appear in the journal Cancer Research. Until recently, head and neck cancer has been found primarily in smokers, but there has been a rise in HPV-associated head and neck cancer in nonsmokers. The head and neck cancer most-associated with HPV is oropharyngeal cancer, involving the tonsils and base of the tongue. HPV is also one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, with certain strains known to cause head and neck and/or cervical cancer. The National Cancer Institute predicts that HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer will likely surpass cervical cancer as the most common HPV-associated cancer in the United States by 2020. “The real mystery is that in western countries, pretty much everyone is exposed to HPV but only a small number of people get HPV-related cancers,” said Dr. Andrew Sikora, vice-chair for research in the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at Baylor. “We are trying to figure out what makes the people who actually get the cancer different from those who don’t, given that so many people are exposed.” Using data collected as part of [...]

2014-10-23T16:56:49-07:00October, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Mandibular reconstruction using plates prebent to fit rapid prototyping 3-dimensional printing models ameliorates contour deformity

Source: 7thspace.comAuthors: Masaki Azuma, Toru Yanagawa, Naomi Ishibash Kanno, Fumihiko Uchida, Takaaki Ito, Kenji Yamagata, Shogo Hasegawa, Kaoru Sasaki, Koji Adachi, Katsuhiko Tabuchi, Mitsuru Sekido and Hiroki Bukawa Recently, medical rapid prototyping (MRP) models, fabricated with computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacture (CAD/CAM) techniques, have been applied to reconstructive surgery in the treatment of head and neck cancers. Here, we tested the use of preoperatively manufactured reconstruction plates, which were produced using MRP models. The clinical efficacy and esthetic outcome of using these products in mandibular reconstruction was evaluated. Methods: A series of 28 patients with malignant oral tumors underwent unilateral segmental resection of the mandible and simultaneous mandibular reconstruction. Twelve patients were treated with prebent reconstruction plates that were molded to MRP mandibular models designed with CAD/CAM techniques and fabricated on a combined powder bed and inkjet head three-dimensional printer. The remaining 16 patients were treated using conventional reconstruction methods. The surgical and esthetic outcomes of the two groups were compared by imaging analysis using post-operative panoramic tomography. Results: The mandibular symmetry in patients receiving the MRP-model-based prebent plates was significantly better than that in patients receiving conventional reconstructive surgery. Conclusions: Patients with head and neck cancer undergoing reconstructive surgery using a prebent reconstruction plate fabricated according to an MRP mandibular model showed improved mandibular contour compared to patients undergoing conventional mandibular reconstruction. Thus, use of this new technology for mandibular reconstruction results in an improved esthetic outcome with the potential for improved quality of life for patients. *This news story [...]

2014-10-23T16:48:30-07:00October, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Critical Outcome Technologies and MD Anderson Cancer Center to evaluate COTI-2 in treating head and neck cancers

Source: www.marketwatch.com Author: press release Critical Outcome Technologies Inc. ("COTI"), the bioinformatics and accelerated drug discovery company, announced today that it recently executed a material transfer agreement ("MTA") with Dr. Jeffery Myers, MD, PhD, FACS of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center for the continued evaluation of COTI-2 in the potential treatment of patients with head and neck squamous cell cancer ("HNSCC"). There are approximately 500,000 new cases worldwide of HNSCC a year, making it the sixth leading cancer in terms of new cases. In the United States, HNSCC is considered to be a rare disease and therefore represents a second "Orphan Disease" opportunity for COTI-2. If HNSCC is caught at an early stage, current therapies, which include surgery and radiation followed by chemotherapy, can be effective. Unfortunately, HNSCC tumors with p53 mutations tend to be more difficult to treat with such mutations occurring in 30-70% of HNSCC tumors. These mutations are associated with poorer patient outcomes as traditional chemotherapy, using the current first line chemotherapy, cisplatin, is often ineffective. The overall five-year survival rate of patients with HNSCC is 40-50%. As a small molecule activator of misfolded mutant p53 protein, COTI-2 has demonstrated in preclinical studies its ability to restore p53 function and thus induce cancer cell death for many common p53 mutations. As previously announced, the Company is planning a Phase 1 study in gynecological cancers (ovarian, cervical and endometrial) at MD Anderson with Dr. Gordon Mills and his team and these studies in HNSCC with [...]

Image cytometry may have roll in oral cancer screening

Source: http://cebp.aacrjournals.orgAuthor: Calum MacAulay, Martial Guillaud, Lewei Zhang, Catherine Poh, and Miriam Rosin Abstract: Oral cancer like many epithelial cancers which are readily accessible are much more treatable if caught in their early pre-invasive/minimally invasive stages. The oral cavity is easily examined and sampled. In British Columbia we have established an Oral Cancer Prevention Program in which we are evaluating and investigating several technologies and their interactions for the screening and follow-up of oral cancer to be implemented into a population based screening program. These sensitive "field of view" image based screening technologies are generally sensitive for the detection of suspect OPLs (oral premalignant lesions), but can highlight areas who's actual characteristics may be masked by inflammation/ulceration and other conditions. As part of a comprehensive management program we present our pilot data on the use of oral cytological samples collected by targeted brushing and analyzed by a fully automated high resolution image cytometry device (cyto-savant). For this study we collected 196 cytological samples using targeted brushing of select areas in the oral cavity from individuals with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), carcinoma in situ (CIS), severe dysplasia, no areas of abnormality and subjects with areas of inflammation/infection etc. All of these samples were spun down onto slides and the DNA quantitatively labeled with a modified Feulgen-Thionin stain and the slides automatically scanned by the cyto-savant. For each object (cell/debris) imaged ~120 features were calculated and used by a cell recognition decision tree (originally trained for cervical cell recognition) to differentiate cells from debris. The [...]

2014-10-17T11:29:30-07:00October, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Cigarette smoking caused 14 million serious diseases in 2009

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Larry Hand Cigarette smoking remains a major cause of preventable diseases in the United States, with at least 14 million serious medical conditions attributable to smoking in 2009, according to an article published online October 13 in JAMA Internal Medicine. "These estimates demonstrate that smoking accounts for millions of serious medical conditions in the United States that could be avoided in the absence of cigarette use," write Brian L. Rostron, PhD, from the Center for Tobacco Products, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland, and colleagues. "Our results also indicate that previous estimates may have substantially underestimated smoking-attributable morbidity in the United States." The researchers analyzed multiple sources of data from 2006 to 2012, including 2009 population data from the US Census Bureau, smoking prevalence and disease risk from the National Health Interview Survey of US adults for 2006 to 2012, and data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of US adults for 2007 to 2010. Current and former smokers were significantly more likely to have at least one smoking-attributable disease and multiple smoking-related conditions compared with never-smokers. Specifically, almost half of surveyed men and women (47.5% and 44.9%, respectively) aged 65 years and older reported having one or more smoking-related disorder, and almost 17% of men and more than 14% of women reported having multiple such disorders. In contrast, among never-smokers, 34.9% of men and 33.2% of women reported at least one such condition and 9.1% and 7.5%, respectively, reported two or more [...]

Hospital Cancer Program Confronts The Existential

Source: huffingtonpost.comAuthor: Sasha Bronner  People who battle stage 4 cancer are familiar with words like chemotherapy, radiation and metastasize. But words they may not hear at a hospital as often are existentialism, mindfulness, legacy and humor. Dr. Arash Asher at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles is dedicating his life to changing that. Asher, 38, is a physiatrist -- a rehab doctor. Before his new program, Asher focused his training on the physical aspects of cancer treatment -- things like cogitative rehab, and the management of pain and nausea. But a good number of patients kept coming back to him to talk about their deep and persistent fears. “We can treat someone’s physical pain, but I just felt like we weren’t doing enough as a system," Asher says. "An antidepressant will not solve the issue.” So Asher decided to create a rehabilitation program that focuses on the emotional fallout of cancer treatment. He recruited patients for the first course that began in mid-July and is currently in the fourth cycle of the program, called Growing Resiliency and Courage with Cancer, or GRACE. Two hours a week, for five weeks, seven to nine patients meet in a conference room at Cedars-Sinai with Asher and Jeffrey Wertheimer, a neuropsychologist who co-developed the program. The group focuses discussions on themes or lessons -- like wisdom, gratitude, humor, courage and legacy-creation. Patients are assigned homework reading, learn meditation techniques and conclude class with a piece on mindfulness. The emphasis on mindfulness has a basis [...]

2014-10-13T12:20:02-07:00October, 2014|OCF In The News|

Proteomic analysis of oral/head and neck cancer

Source: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.orgAuthor: Shen Hu, Lifeng Zhang, Jiang Jiang, Martha Arellano-Garcia, and David Wong Abstract: The stagnant survival rates over the past few decades for patients with oral/head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC/HNSCC) emphasize the need for identifying novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets based on molecular profiling of the tumor. In this study, we have conducted patient-based proteomic analysis towards the discovery of potential serum and tissue protein targets associated with OSCC/HNSCC. First, we have utilized quantitative proteomics based on gel electrophoresis and stable isotope labeling/tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) to identify differentially expressed serum proteins between lymph-node metastatic and non-metastatic OSCCs. Proteins in PAGE gel bands were digested and the resulting peptides were labeled with iTRAQ reagents and subsequently quantified with liquid chromatography (LC) with quadrupole time-of-flight MS or linear ion trap MS (LTQ). The differentially expressed proteins included transthyretin, alpha-fibrinogen, tetranectin, hemopexin, ficolin, HGF activator, plasminogen, clusterin, etc. Second, we have performed comparative proteomic analysis of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive and HPV-negative HNSCCs because HPV has been recognized as an important risk factor for a subset of OSCC/HNSCC. Differentially expressed proteins were revealed by 2-D gel electrophoresis and then identified using in-gel tryptic digestion followed by LC-MS/MS (linear ion trap). Interesting targets associated with HPV-positive HNSCC included NHEJ1, PARK7 (oncogene DJ-1), superoxide dismutase, heat shock protein beta-1, fatty acid-binding protein, etc. NHEJ1 is a DNA repair protein involved in DNA nonhomologous end joining whereas PARK7 acts as a positive regulator of androgen receptor-dependent transcription and has cell-growth promoting and transforming activities. In addition, [...]

2014-10-10T11:26:28-07:00October, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Early detection of head and neck cancer: development of a novel screening tool using multiplexed immunobead-based biomarker profiling

Source: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org Authors: Faina Linkov, Alex Lisovich, Zoya Yurkovetsky, Adele Marrangoni, Lyudmila Velikokhatnaya, Brian Nolen, Matthew Winans, William Bigbee, Jill Siegfried, Anna Lokshin, and Robert Ferris Abstract: Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck cancer (SCCHN) is an aggressive disease which has been linked to altered immune, inflammatory, and angiogenesis responses. A better understanding of these aberrant responses might improve early detection and prognosis of SCCHN and provide novel therapeutic targets. Previous studies examined the role of multiplexed serum biomarkers in small cohorts or SCCHN sera. We hypothesized that an expanded panel comprised of multiple cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, and other tumor markers, which individually may show some promising correlation with disease status, might provide higher diagnostic power if used in combination. Thus, we evaluated a novel multi-analyte LabMAP profiling technology that allows simultaneous measurement of multiple serum biomarkers. Concentrations of 60 cytokines, growth factors, and tumor antigens were measured in the sera of 116 SCCHN patients prior to treatment (active disease group), 103 patients who were successfully treated (no evidence of disease, NED, group), and 117 smoker controls without evidence of cancer. The multi-marker panel offering the highest diagnostic power was comprised of 25 biomarkers, including EGF, EGFR, IL-8, tPAI-1, AFP, MMP-2, MMP-3, IFN-α, IFN-γ, IP-10, RANTES, MIP-1α, IL-7, IL-17, IL-1Rα, IL-2R, G-CSF, mesothelin, IGFBP-1, E-selectin, cytokeratin (CK)19, V-CAM, and CA-125. Statistical analysis using an ADE algorithm resulted in a sensitivity of 84.5%, specificity of 98%, and 92% of patients in the active disease group correctly classified from a [...]

2014-10-10T11:05:56-07:00October, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Alcohol drinking in never-tobacco users and cigarette smoking in never drinkers: pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium

Source: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.orgAuthors: Paolo Boffetta, Mia Hasibe & On Behalf Of INHANCE Consortium  Abstract: Cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking account for at least 75% of head and neck cancers. A precise understanding of the independent effect of each of these factors in the absence of the other has important implications, in terms of elucidating the mechanisms of head and neck carcinogenesis and assessing the effect of interventions aimed to control either risk factor.We determined the extent to which head and neck cancer is associated with cigarette smoking among never-drinkers and alcohol drinking among never-tobacco users. We pooled individual-level data across 15 individual case-control studies including 10,244 head and neck cancer cases and 15,227 controls.There were 1,072 cases and 5,775 controls who never used tobacco, and 1,598 cases and 4,051 controls who never drank alcohol. Cigarette smoking increased the risk of head and neck cancers [odds ratio (OR)=2.10, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.49-2.95] among never-drinkers, with clear dose-response relationships for frequency, duration and packyears of cigarette smoking. Approximately 24% of head and neck cancer cases among non-drinkers would have been prevented if these individuals had not smoked cigarettes. Among never-tobacco users, an increasing risk of head and neck cancer was detected for increasing alcohol drinking frequency (p for trend<0.001), but the effect was apparent only at high doses.Our results represent the most precise estimate available of the independent effect of each of the two main risk factors of head and neck cancer and exemplify the strengths of large-scale consortia in cancer epidemiology.  *This news [...]

2014-10-10T10:36:00-07:00October, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

E-cigarette laws may be harder to regulate than originally thought

Source: apnews.com or ap.orgAuthor: Summer Ballentine & Michael Felberbaum JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - In a rush to keep electronic cigarettes out of children's hands while the federal government creeps forward with a proposed national ban for minors, experts say that many states are passing laws that could mean fewer restrictions on the nicotine devices later. Lawmakers last month made Missouri the 41st state to outlaw selling e-cigarettes to minors. Age restrictions have wide support, but Gov. Jay Nixon and public health advocates opposed a piece of the legislation that prevents tobacco taxes or regulations from being imposed on the electronic devices, which heat liquid nicotine into an inhalable vapor. E-cigarette makers have been in a tug-of-war with state and federal governments since the battery-powered devices first were sold in the U.S. in 2007. A 2009 law gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate a number of aspects of tobacco marketing and manufacturing. It first said it planned to assert authority over e-cigarettes in 2011, but it hasn't yet done so. In April, the FDA for the first time proposed a set of regulations for e-cigarettes, including banning sales to minors and requiring health warning labels, as well as approving new products. The agency has said its proposal sets a foundation for regulating the products but the rules wouldn't immediately ban the wide array of flavors of e-cigarettes or curb marketing on places like TV. In the absence of regulation, members of Congress, state leaders and public [...]

2014-10-07T13:01:37-07:00October, 2014|Oral Cancer News|
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