Dr. Maura Gillison – Oral Cancer News

Deintensification of Treatment in HPV-Associated Cancers Holds Promise, But With Caveats

Source: Targeted Oncology Date: May 17th, 2020 Author: Tony Berberabe De-escalating therapy has the potential to dramatically reshape the treatment of patients with HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers, but only if a number of key trials come back with positive long-term data with 3 cycles of cisplatin at 100 mg/m2 times 3, given every 3 weeks, Sue Yom, MD, PhD, a professor in the Departments of Radiation Oncology and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery atthe University of California, San Francisco, said in an interview with Targeted Therapies in Oncology (TTO). Sure, there were some minor variations over the years, small alterations made on a case-by-case basis. “But long story short, that’s fundamentally what was happening: 70 Gy with 3 cycles of high-dose cisplatin,” Yom said. The story began to change a little over a decade ago, with the introduction of a variable that could potentially change the course of therapy for a large percentage of patients with head and neck cancers. Today, the operative word remains potentially. In 2008, Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University, and colleagues found that whether head and neck squamous cell carcinoma tumors were associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV) turned out to be a major prognostic indicator.1 “When that finally came to be reported, there was a very, very striking result,” said Barbara Burtness, MD, a professor of medicine (medical oncology), Disease-Aligned Research Team leader of the Head and Neck Cancers Program, and coleader of Developmental Therapeutics at Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, [...]

Charlotte Parker2020-05-26T12:41:45-07:00May, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

HPV Vaccination Linked to Decreased Oral HPV Infections

Author: NCI Staff Date: June 5th, 2017 Source: www.cancer.org New study results suggest that vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) may sharply reduce oral HPV infections that are a major risk factor for oropharyngeal cancer, a type of head and neck cancer. The study of more than 2,600 young adults in the United States found that the prevalence of oral infection with four HPV types, including two high-risk, or cancer-causing, types, was 88% lower in those who reported receiving at least one dose of an HPV vaccine than in those who said they were not vaccinated. About 70% of oropharyngeal cancers are caused by high-risk HPV infection, and the incidence of HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer has been increasing in the United States in recent decades. In the United States, more than half of oropharyngeal cancers are linked to a single high-risk HPV type, HPV 16, which is one of the types covered by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved HPV vaccines. “In an unvaccinated population, we would estimate that about a million young adults would have an oral HPV infection by one of these vaccine HPV types. If they had all been vaccinated, we could have prevented almost 900,000 of those infections,” said senior study author Maura Gillison, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Gillison presented the new findings at a May 17 press briefing ahead of the 2017 annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting, held June 2–6 in Chicago. A Rapidly Rising Cancer Oropharyngeal [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-06-05T14:39:41-07:00June, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

Nivolumab Improved Survival For Patients With Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Source: www.aacr.orgAuthor: AACR Newsroom Staff NEW ORLEANS — Treatment with the immunotherapeutic nivolumab (Opdivo) improved survival for patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma that progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy compared with single-agent chemotherapy of the investigator’s choice, according to results from the CheckMate-141 phase III clinical trial presented here at the AACR Annual Meeting 2016, April 16-20. “Recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma that is not responsive to platinum-based chemotherapy progresses very rapidly, and patients have a very poor prognosis,” said Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD, a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. “Treatment usually involves single-agent chemotherapy. However, no therapy has been shown to improve survival for this patient population. New treatment options are desperately needed. “This study is the first randomized clinical trial to clearly demonstrate improved overall survival for patients with platinum-refractory recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma,” continued Gillison. “We hope that the results will establish nivolumab as a new standard of care option for this patient population and thereby fulfill a huge unmet need.” CheckMate-141 was a randomized, phase III clinical trial designed to determine whether the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab could extend overall survival for patients with platinum-refractory recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma compared with treatment of the investigator’s choice, which was any of the commonly used therapeutics docetaxel, methotrexate, or [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-04-19T10:49:39-07:00April, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

A cancer on the rise, and the vaccine too late for Gen X

Source: www.cnn.comAuthor: Martha Shade (CNN)The vaccine given to prevent cervical cancer in women could end up saving men's lives, too. Evidence is mounting that the HPV vaccine is also effective in preventing other HPV-related cancers, including those of the head and neck. Although most people who get HPV do not develop cancer, rates of HPV-related head and neck cancers are dramatically rising for men aged 40 to 50, according to Dr. Maura L. Gillison, the Jeg Coughlin Chair of Cancer Research at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. When Gillison recently gave a presentation showing the increasing rate of HPV-related head and neck cancer among men, her audience was shocked. "I've never shown a slide where the audience gasps," she said. Related: Yes, oral sex can lead to cancer "The risk of getting this cancer is strongly related to when you were born. If you are currently a 40- to 45-year-old man, your risk of getting this cancer is dramatically higher than a 40- to 45-year-old man three or four decades ago," Gillison said. Today's 40- to 50-year-old men have had more sexual partners and have engaged in more oral sex than previous generations, according to experts, significantly raising their risk of an HPV-related head and neck cancer. Actor Michael Douglas made headlines in 2013 when he announced he was battling an HPV-related cancer and that he got it from performing oral sex. Douglas was 68 when he was diagnosed, but many of the men being diagnosed with these [...]

Charlotte Parker2015-11-05T11:21:19-07:00November, 2015|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Four Ways Katie Couric Stacked The Deck Against Gardasil

Source: ForbesPublished: Wednesday, December 4, 2013 This afternoon, Katie Couric ran a long segment on her daytime talk show, Katie, about what she called the “controversy” over the vaccines against human papilloma virus, or HPV, an infection that causes cervical, throat, penile, and anal cancers. She featured one mother who says that Gardasil, the HPV vaccine made by Merck , killed her daughter, and a young woman, seated with her mother, who said that Gardasil had caused years of illness that made her think she might die. (GlaxoSmithKline GSK +0.15% makes another HPV vaccine, Cervarix, that is less commonly used in the U.S.) Alongside those stories, Couric also featured two medical experts: Dr. Diane Harper, the chair of family and geriatric medicine at the University of Louisville, who helped test Gardasil but has since argued that the vaccine has been over-marketed and its benefits oversold; and Mallika Marshall, a Harvard Medical School doctor who is Couric’s in-house medical correspondent. Marshall defended the vaccine; strangely, only her arguments appear on the show’s Web site. Despite the attempt at balance, I think most viewers will be left with the impression that the vaccine is dangerous and that its benefits don’t outweigh its risks – a conclusion that is not shared by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, or the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Here’s how Couric stacked the deck against the HPV vaccine: 1. By downplaying the effectiveness of [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-12-05T13:18:37-07:00December, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

It’s True. You Can Get Throat Cancer From Oral Sex

By: Alexandra SifferlinJune 03, 2013 Source: TIME On Sunday, in an interview with the Guardian, actor Michael Douglas revealed that his throat cancer was not caused by tobacco and alcohol, but by HPV, which was transmitted through oral sex. He has since called the statement a misunderstanding, but it’s still true: you can get throat cancer from HPV. In an eye-poppingly candid interview with the Guardian’s Xan Brooks, Douglas, who is married to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, allegedly told the reporter his cancer was caused by the STD: The throat cancer, I assume, was first seeded during those wild middle years, when he drank like a fish and smoked like the devil. Looking back, knowing what he knows now, does he feel he overloaded his system? “No,” he says. “No. Because, without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV [human papillomavirus], which actually comes about from cunnilingus.” From what? For a moment I think that I may have misheard. “From cunnilingus. I mean, I did worry if the stress caused by my son’s incarceration didn’t help trigger it. But yeah, it’s a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer.” He shrugs. “And if you have it, cunnilingus is also the best cure for it.” Right, I say. OK. So what he is suggesting is that it all evens out? “That’s right,” says Douglas. “It giveth and it taketh.” Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted disease that can cause genital warts or present itself without symptoms. If left untreated, it can also [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-06-04T11:13:31-07:00June, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Prognostic Significance of HPV Status in Oropharyngeal Cancer

OncologySTAT Editorial Team Dr. Maura Gillison is Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Otolaryngology at Ohio State University in Columbus. OncologySTAT: The results of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0129 trial showed that the human papillomavirus (HPV) is an independent prognostic factor in oropharyngeal cancer. Could you tell us about the rationale for this study? Dr. Gillison: Over the last 10 years, our research has shown that cancers of the oropharynx are actually 2 completely different diseases that can look quite similar. One subset is caused HPV infection, and the other is more closely associated with long-term use of alcohol and tobacco. Initial studies suggested that the presence of HPV in a patient’s tumor had prognostic significance, but study limitations made that conclusion dubious. We set out to determine whether or not HPV was indeed an independent prognostic factor in head and neck cancer. To show whether there was a direct relationship between HPV infection and head and neck cancer, we needed to prospectively study a uniformly treated and uniformly staged patient population. Thus, we used the study population from the trial conducted by the RTOG. We divided the patients into 2 groups—those whose tumors were caused by HPV and those whose tumors were not—and we compared survival outcomes for the 2 groups. The results showed that HPV status was the single most important predictor of patient outcome, even more so than disease stage and other well-known prognostic factors such as performance status and presence of anemia. In fact, after [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-04-18T10:16:03-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Dental professionals join The Oral Cancer Foundation to raise awareness as HPV is now the primary cause of Oral Cancers in America

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., April 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A serious change in the cause of oral cancer is taking place nationally, and its implications are impacting the American public in a manner that a decade ago no one would have predicted. For decades, oral cancer (also known as mouth cancer, tongue cancer, tonsil cancer, and throat cancer) has been a disease which most often occurred in older individuals, who during their lifetimes had been tobacco users. Most cases were ultimately the result of lifestyle choices. Today that paradigm has changed. A common, sexually transferred virus has replaced tobacco as the number one cause of oral cancers, Human Papilloma Virus number 16 (HPV16). This is one of the same viruses that are responsible for the majority of cervical cancers in women. This year alone, approximately 37,000 Americans will be newly diagnosed with oral cancer, and one person will die every hour of every day from this disease. HPV16, one of about 130 versions of the virus, is now the leading cause of oral cancer, and is found in about 60% of newly diagnosed patients. Dr. Maura Gillison from the James Cancer Center, a long time researcher of the relationship between HPV and oral cancers, recently reported these new findings at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science meeting. This change in etiology, which has accelerated its influence over the last two decades as tobacco use in the US simultaneously was declining, has also changed the demographics of who is getting [...]

Charlotte Parker2011-04-07T10:39:32-07:00April, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

HPV-positive tumors increase chance of survival

Source: Dotmed Author: Heather Mayer For some time now, experts have suspected a link between the human papillomavirus and oral cancer. DOTmed News reported in April that HPV could be linked to a nearly one-quarter increase in mouth and throat cancers in the United States (see DM 12140). But now it's been shown that not only can HPV cause oral cancer, but it can increase a patient's chance of survival, according to a study from the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. The report, published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the presence of HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer, is the most important predictor of survival for people with oropharyngeal cancer -- cancer of the back of the mouth. Lifetime smoking history and cancer stage follow HPV as survival predictors. "We believe HPV cancers are likely more susceptible to radiation treatment than tobacco tumors," says Brian Hill, founder and executive director of the Oral Cancer Foundation and cancer survivor. While historically, most oral cancers were caused by tobacco and alcohol, within the past couple of decades, HPV has become a key player in causing the cancer, explains Hill. He points out that the cells in the back of mouth are attractive to the virus. Lead researcher and neck cancer specialist Dr. Maura Gillison, conducted the retrospective study, analyzing the tumors and outcomes of 323 patients with stage 3 or 4 oropharyngeal cancer. Of these patients, 206 had HPV-positive tumors, and 117 tested negative [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-06-14T12:18:30-07:00June, 2010|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

New oral cancer data could prompt new treatments

Source: The Columbus Disbatch Author: Misti Crane Doctors are focusing increasingly on the role that human papilloma virus plays in oral cancer, and new research is prompting hope that treatments can be better tailored to patients. People with oral cancer have a better chance of surviving if the cancer is linked to HPV, according to a new study led by an Ohio State University researcher. Dr. Maura Gillison and her colleagues found that 82 percent of those with HPV-positive tumors in the back of their mouths survived at least three years, compared with 57percent of those with mouth tumors not tied to HPV. Their study included 323 oropharyngeal cancer patients. HPV, which is spread by sexual contact, is the virus that also causes cervical cancer. It can cause cancer of the mouth through oral sex. The research took into account other risk factors such as tobacco use. It was published online yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. This study should prompt more studies and advances in treatment, Gillison said. For example, it could be that patients with a better prognosis could have less radiation and suffer fewer side effects, she said. Side effects of treatment include trouble swallowing, dental problems, difficulty speaking and inflexibility in the neck. Gillison also presented new data yesterday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago. The data showed a worse outcome for smokers who have HPV-positive cancers than for patients with the same type of cancer who don't smoke. The risk [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-06-09T10:00:14-07:00June, 2010|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|