prognosis – Oral Cancer News

Diabetes increases mortality risk for long-term cancer survivors

Source: www.curetoday.com Author: Alex Biese A population-based study of nearly 7,000 long-term cancer survivors found that diabetes among long-term cancer survivors “was associated with cancer site, older age, lower education, higher socioeconomic deprivation, higher body mass index, physical inactivity, other comorbidities, and poorer prognosis,” with cancer survivors who also have diabetes facing a risk of death that is 29% higher than that faced by survivors who do not have diabetes, according to a study published in the journal Cancer. The study, conducted by a team of German researchers, drew on information from 6,952 long-term cancer survivors who had received diagnoses of breast, colorectal or prostate cancer between 1994 and 2004, were recruited for participation between 2008 and 2011 and were then followed until 2019, with 962 (13.8%) of long-term cancer survivors reporting that they had diabetes at the start of the study and 1,828 cancer-free individuals serving as controls in the study. While the study found that diabetes was as prevalent in cancer-free participants as it was among long-term cancer survivors who had survived at least five years after receiving their diagnosis, researchers were sure to put those findings in context. “We want to stress that our finding of no increased prevalence of (diabetes) in (long-term cancer survivors) should not be interpreted as an indication of a lower risk of (diabetes) in this population,” researchers wrote. “Rather, it highlights the potentially poor prognosis in cancer patients with diabetes and survivors, and the need for an improved care to reduce the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2023-12-26T20:01:26-07:00December, 2023|Oral Cancer News|

HPV Persistence Predicts Poor Prognosis in Head/Neck Cancer

Source: www.medscape.comAuthor: Roxanne Nelson, RN, BSN Among patients with human papillomavirus–positive oropharyngeal cancer (HPV-OPC), persistence of HPV following treatment is associated with a poorer prognosis. Results of a new study show that the persistence of HPV16 DNA, detected in oral rinses after treatment has ended, may be predictive of disease recurrence. In a cohort of 124 patients with HPV-OPC, HPV16 DNA was detected in oral rinses from 54% (n = 67) of patients at the time of their diagnosis. Following treatment, it was detected in only six patients after treatment, including five patients with persistent oral HPV16 DNA that was also detected at diagnosis. All five patients with persistent HPV16 experienced disease recurrence, with three eventually dying of their cancer. Conversely, only nine of 119 patients without persistent oral HPV16 DNA developed recurrent disease. "Our findings indicate that persistent HPV16 DNA in oral rinses may be a useful early marker of disease that has either recurred or never fully responded to treatment," said first author Eleni Rettig, MD, of the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland. "In the clinical setting, this could one day be a part of routine surveillance after treatment for HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancers, in addition to clinical examination and imaging," she told Medscape Medical News. The study was published online July 30 in JAMA Oncology. Biomarker Potential? In an accompanying editorial, Julie E. Bauman, MD, MPH, and Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, both of the University of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-07-30T17:19:55-07:00July, 2015|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

New Model Proposed for More Accurate Prediction of Treatment Outcomes for HPV Related Throat Cancer Patients

Source: news-medical.netAuthor: Researchers at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network Researchers at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre are proposing a new model to enable doctors to predict outcomes more accurately for patients with throat cancers specifically caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The findings are published online today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Study investigators, Dr. Brian O'Sullivan, Lead, Head and Neck Cancer Site Group and Shao-Hui Huang, Research and Clinical Radiation Therapist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, have determined that a new model for classifying the most frequently seen throat cancers in our geographic location is needed. This classification incorporates individual patient factors including age and their smoking status with the traditional classification of the extent of disease, to offer a more personalized approach to predict outcomes and guide treatment. "Our study shows that the current model derived for smoking and alcohol related cancers is not suited for throat cancer caused by HPV, a burgeoning throat cancer population in the Western World, including Canada," says Huang. "This is the future of tumour staging. We need to consider the patient as a whole. Both individual factors, how extensive the disease is in the patient, and tumour biology should play a role in determining the best course of treatment." The purpose of a tumour staging system is to classify the disease into early, intermediate or advanced stage cancer. This classification helps determine treatment plans and can suggest what is likely to be the outcome. In recent years, it's been discovered that [...]

Charlotte Parker2015-02-11T11:01:45-07:00February, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Study finds the prognosis of HPV positive tumors in head and neck cancer patients to vary depending on site

Source: sciencecodex.comAuthor: Staff Vienna, Austria: Patients with cancer of the throat and who are positive for the Human Papilloma virus (HPV+) have a good prognosis, but until now the effect of being HPV+ on the prognosis of tumours located elsewhere in the head and neck was unknown. Danish researchers have now shown that HPV status appears to have no prognostic effect on the outcome of primary radiotherapy in head and neck cancer outside the oropharynx (the part of the throat located behind the mouth, and which contains the soft palate and the base of the tongue), the ESTRO 33 congress will hear today (Sunday). Presenting her results to the congress, Dr Pernille Lassen, MD, PhD, from the Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark, will say that head and neck cancers located outside the oropharynx should probably not be treated with the less intensive treatment strategies that are currently being investigated in clinical trials for HPV+ oropharyngeal tumours. "HPV status has a very potent prognostic impact in radiotherapy for oropharyngeal cancer, and DNA from HPV has been found in all types of head and neck cancer, although it is far more common in oropharyngeal tumours. We decided to investigate the impact of HPV status in non-oropharyngeal cancers in the DAHANCA database, which includes all Danish head and neck cancer patients," Dr Lassen will say. The researchers searched the database to identify patients with locally advanced cancers who had been treated primarily with radiotherapy, and identified 1606 patients with larynx and pharynx carcinomas. Overall, [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-04-07T12:38:17-07:00April, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Prognosis of tumors positive for human papilloma virus in head and neck cancers varies according to the site

Source: www.sciencecodex.com Author: staff Patients with cancer of the throat and who are positive for the Human Papilloma virus (HPV+) have a good prognosis, but until now the effect of being HPV+ on the prognosis of tumours located elsewhere in the head and neck was unknown. Danish researchers have now shown that HPV status appears to have no prognostic effect on the outcome of primary radiotherapy in head and neck cancer outside the oropharynx (the part of the throat located behind the mouth, and which contains the soft palate and the base of the tongue), the ESTRO 33 congress will hear today (Sunday). Presenting her results to the congress, Dr Pernille Lassen, MD, PhD, from the Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark, will say that head and neck cancers located outside the oropharynx should probably not be treated with the less intensive treatment strategies that are currently being investigated in clinical trials for HPV+ oropharyngeal tumours. "HPV status has a very potent prognostic impact in radiotherapy for oropharyngeal cancer, and DNA from HPV has been found in all types of head and neck cancer, although it is far more common in oropharyngeal tumours. We decided to investigate the impact of HPV status in non-oropharyngeal cancers in the DAHANCA database, which includes all Danish head and neck cancer patients," Dr Lassen will say. The researchers searched the database to identify patients with locally advanced cancers who had been treated primarily with radiotherapy, and identified 1606 patients with larynx and pharynx carcinomas. Overall, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2014-04-06T06:23:34-07:00April, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Head and neck cancer protein identified

Source: www.dailyrx.com Author: Travis Giddings Different kinds of cancer have different characteristics on a cellular level, and these unique proteins can be used to monitor the cancer's progress or serve as a target for the pharmaceutical version of a smart bomb. The protein Aurora-A is known to be involved in several cancers and clinical trials are currently underway that target Aurora-A as a way to specifically attack cancer cells without any collateral damage. A recent study began initially as an investigation into whether Aurora-A was a suitable drug target in head and neck cancer, but the results were more ominous. Researchers from the Fox Chase Cancer Center presenting at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting announced the results of their investigation into the Aurora-A protein. They found that not only is the protein found in cancers of the head and neck, but higher levels of the protein were correlated with a much worse prognosis than cancer patients with normal levels. Patients with high levels of the protein survived less than 36 months on average, while patients with levels closer to normal had a longer timeframe, closer to 92 months. "This finding suggests Aurora A does play a role in the development of head and neck cancers," said Christian J. Fidler, MD, the study author. "Consequently, Aurora-A represents another potential target for additional therapies." Given the poor prognosis of high Aurora-A cancer patients, researchers now hope to begin a clinical trial combining Aurora-A inhibitors with other cancer drugs such [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-04-25T06:46:03-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

HPV and EGFR are hottest topics in head and neck cancer

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Zosia Chustecka The hottest topic in head and neck cancers is the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the disease, although there is also a lot interest in treatment with EGRF inhibitors, especially the second-generation products, according to an expert here at the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology 11th Biennial Conference. HPV has only been associated with head and neck cancer in the last few years, but it is now clear that patients who are positive for the virus have a better prognosis, said Cai Grau, MD, DMSC, professor of oncology at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. He chaired a session during which both hot topics were discussed. "These patients have a better prognosis, irrespective of treatment, and their risk of a second cancer is virtually zero," added session participant Lisa Licitra, MD, medical oncologist at the Istituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori in Milan, Italy. However, there is a difference between patients in the United States and those in Europe with regard to risk, she told meeting attendees. For American patterns, Dr. Licitra cited the analysis published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine (2010;363:24-35), which reported a risk model for death from oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma on the basis of HPV status, pack-years of tobacco smoking, and tumor and nodal stage. In this 266-patient cohort, 43% were low risk, 30% were intermediate risk, and 27% were high risk. Dr. Licitra reported that when she performed the same analysis [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-17T06:56:01-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

HPV causing “slow epidemic” of oral cancers

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Janis C. Kelly Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a risk factor for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), and might account for the steady increase in OSCC incidence, even in subjects who do not smoke or consume alcohol, according to Swedish researchers. A review of recent studies, conducted by Trobjorn Ramqvist, MD, and Tina Dalianis, MD, PhD, and published online October 13 in Emerging Infectious Diseases, suggests that changes in sexual practices are behind the surge in OSCC cases linked to sexually transmitted HPV. The key factors appear to be multiple sex partners, starting sexual activity at a younger age, and increased oral sex. The data are startling. For example, from 1970 to 2002, tonsillar cancer (which is the most common OSCC) increased in Stockholm, Sweden, by 2.8-fold, and by 2006/07, 93% of all tonsillar cancers in that city were HPV-positive. Dr. Dalianis, who is professor of tumor virology and the head of the Department of Oncology–Pathology at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, told Medscape Medical News that "we realized that there was an increase in HPV-induced tonsillar cancer, but we did not realize it was so eminent until we separated the 2 groups (HPV-negative and -positive tonsillar cancer cases) the way we did." The most common OSCC is tonsillar cancer, followed by base of tongue cancer. Overall 5-year survival for OSCC is about 25%, and HPV-positive OSCC generally has better clinical outcomes than HPV-negative disease. Dr. Dalianis said that HPV (most commonly type 16) was found in 45% to [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-10-26T08:52:15-07:00October, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

HPV-positive oropharnygeal cancer has better prognosis than tobacco-induced cancer

Source: www.enttoday.org Author: Alice Goodma Mounting evidence suggests that human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal cancer has an improved prognosis compared with HPV-negative disease. The most recent supportive evidence comes from an analysis of a Phase III trial presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Our study showed that HPV status is as strong a predictor of outcome as cancer stage for patients with oropharyngeal cancers, even after considering other factors such as age and smoking history, said lead author Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, Professor of Hematology and Oncology, Epidemiology, and Otolaryngology at Ohio State University in Columbus. Dr. Gillison said that tumor HPV status should now be part of the routine workup of patients with oropharyngeal cancers. Oropharyngeal cancers are mainly attributable to chronic tobacco use and smoking, or to HPV infection. Retrospective analyses, meta-analysis, and small trials have suggested that HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer is a distinct entity, and the present Phase III study provides the most compelling evidence, she said, because it is the largest study to date. It is not clear why HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer has a better prognosis. In the trial, HPV-positive patients were younger, mostly Caucasian, and had improved performance status and smaller tumors. Dr. Gillison said that these factors could have a positive influence on survival. Survival Benefit The retrospective correlative analysis of Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0129, presented by Dr. Gillison, focused on outcome according to HPV status. The randomized study included 206 patients with cancers positive for [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-08-16T10:19:03-07:00August, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

HPV is changing the face of head and neck cancers

Source: www.hemonctoday.com Author: Christen Cona In February, at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Chandler, Ariz., Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, professor and Jeg Coughlin Chair of Cancer Research at The Ohio State University in Columbus, presented data that showed that the proportion of all head and neck squamous cell cancers that were of the oropharynx — which are most commonly HPV-positive cancers — increased from 18% in 1973 to 32% in 2005. In addition, studies from the United States, Europe, Denmark and Australia indicate that HPV-positive patients have a more than twofold increased cancer survival than HPV-negative patients, according to Gillison. With the rising incidence of HPV-related oropharynx cancers, it will soon be the predominant type of cancer in the oral or head and neck region, according to Andy Trotti, MD, director of radiation oncology clinical research, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, in Tampa, Fla. “We should be focusing on HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer because it will dominate the field of head and neck cancers for many years,” he said during an interview with HemOnc Today . “It is certainly an important population for which to continue to conduct research.” Because HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer is emerging as a distinct biological entity, the recent rise in incidence will significantly affect treatment, and prevention and screening techniques, essentially reshaping current clinical practice. Social change driving incidence In the analysis performed by Gillison and colleagues, trends demonstrated that change in the rates of head and neck cancers [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-06-27T10:24:39-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|