A spitting image of health

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org Author: Susan Galdos Rinse and spit. Someday soon, doctors may join dentists in issuing these simple instructions. And before leaving the office, you might know whether you’re at risk for oral cancer. Additional tests on that same ptui may reveal whether you show signs of certain other cancers or diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Saliva — the frothy fluid that helps clean the mouth, digest food and fight tooth decay — carries many of the same proteins and other molecules found in blood and urine. Scientists have long been interested in mining a person’s mix of these compounds for clues to diagnosing diseases. Three years ago, these efforts got a boost when researchers completed a preliminary master list of the proteins found in spit — 1,166 of them. Since then, scientists have nearly doubled the length of the protein list, while identifying changes in the salivary protein profile that are linked to disease. Other labs are delving into genetic material found in human saliva, looking for variations in gene activity that might signal disease risk. Already, studies show that diseases such as breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s leave specific and identifiable signatures in saliva. Such biomarkers have also been found for Sjögren syndrome, an autoimmune condition that affects production of tears and saliva. And proteins known to be related to heart activity, including a handful whose levels are elevated during a heart attack, have also shown up in spittle. Such findings — combined with the [...]

2011-11-06T10:34:31-07:00November, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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SIBLING proteins may predict oral cancer

Source: www.sciencedaily.com Author: Medical College of Georgia The presence of certain proteins in premalignant oral lesions may predict oral cancer development, Medical College of Georgia researchers said. SIBLINGs, or Small Integrin-Binding Ligand N-linked Glycoproteins, are a family of five proteins that help mineralize bone but can also spread cancer. SIBLINGs have been found in cancers including breast, lung, colon and prostate. "Several years ago we discovered that three SIBLINGs -- osteopontin, bone sialoprotein and dentin sialophosphoprotein -- were expressed at significantly high levels in oral cancers," said Dr. Kalu Ogbureke, an oral and maxillofacial pathologist in the MCG School of Dentistry. "Following that discovery, we began to research the potential role of SIBLINGs in oral lesions before they become invasive cancers." The study, published online in the journal Cancer, examined 60 archived surgical biopsies of precancerous lesions sent to MCG for diagnosis and the patients' subsequent health information. Eighty-seven percent of the biopsies were positive for at least one SIBLING protein -- which the researchers discovered can be good or bad, depending on the protein. For instance, they found that the protein, dentin sialophosphoprotein, increases oral cancer risk fourfold, while bone sialoprotein significantly decreases the risk. "The proteins could be used as biomarkers to predict [the potential of a lesion to become cancerous]," said Dr. Ogbureke, the study's lead author. "That is very significant, because we would then be in a position to modify treatment for the individual patient's need in the near future." Precancerous oral lesions, which can develop [...]

2010-09-21T12:49:42-07:00September, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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Researchers: B6 may cut cancer risk for smokers by 50%

Source: allyoucanreadbusiness.com Author: staff People who smoke and have a high level of vitamin B6 and other essential proteins and vitamins in their body will cut their chance of contracting lung cancer by fifty percent. According to a study by scientist at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, cigarette smoking causes many kinds of diseases like heart attack, throat cancer and so on. However, the major disease caused by smoking is lung cancer.This disease is very common and is seen in non-smokers. Deficiency in vitamin B6 and methionine is the major cause for lung cancer. Over 1.2 million people fatally fall victim to lung cancer every year. Vitamin B6 is very prevalent in vegetables, meat, nuts, and other high protein nutrient foods. Thus, taking in more vitamins and proteins daily will lessen the chance for smokers to develop lung cancer. Eighty percent of all lung cancer diagnoses are related to smoking cigarettes.

2010-06-19T12:30:56-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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UConn scientist may have way to detect pre-tumor cancer

Source: www.theday.com Author: staff A University of Connecticut researcher thinks he might have found a way to find cancer even before it reveals itself in a tumor or other symptoms. Jim Rusling, professor of chemistry and cell biology at the UConn Health Center, has been working with colleagues at the National Institutes of Health to detect specific proteins found in the blood of those with prostate or oral cancer. These biomarker proteins are detectable in early stages of these cancers, so the researchers believe they can be used for earlier detection and prevention than is now possible. Rusling noted that the approach has an advantage over genetic testing, because that can only assess the risk of getting the disease, whereas measuring biomarkers can reveal the actual presence cancer. He described the project, funded by a $1.5 million NIH grant, in a recent issue of Analytical Chemistry.

2010-05-21T07:26:05-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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New biomarker technique could provide early detection for cancer

Source: www.physorg.com Author: press release provided by University of Connecticut Modern genetic testing can predict your risk of contracting particular diseases based on predispositions discovered in your DNA. But what if similar biotechnology could tell you that you’ve got a disease before you notice any symptoms? What if it could even tell you, before any signs of a tumor, that you have cancer? Jim Rusling, professor of chemistry at UConn and professor of cell biology at the UConn Health Center, ponders these questions on a daily basis. Since 2006, he and colleagues at the University and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been developing techniques to detect biomarker proteins - the physiological traits that indicate that a person has a specific disease - for prostate and oral cancer. Because these biomarkers are often present in the blood in a disease’s early stages, they can be used for early detection and prevention. “DNA predicts which proteins can be made, but it can’t predict which proteins are actively expressed,” Rusling says. “It only assesses the risk of a disease. There’s a big push now to measure proteins as biomarkers.” In a recent publication in the journal Analytical Chemistry, Rusling and his colleagues describe a system they developed to detect with record sensitivity the bloodstream levels of a protein associated with several types of oral cancer, including head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. The project was funded by a $1.5 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at NIH. [...]

2010-05-19T20:29:55-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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SIBLING proteins may predict oral cancer

Source: www.scienceblog.com Author: staff The presence of certain proteins in premalignant oral lesions may predict oral cancer development, Medical College of Georgia researchers said. SIBLINGs, or Small Integrin-Binding Ligand N-linked Glycoproteins, are a family of five proteins that help mineralize bone but can also spread cancer. SIBLINGs have been found in cancers including breast, lung, colon and prostate. "Several years ago we discovered that three SIBLINGs -- osteopontin, bone sialoprotein and dentin sialophosphoprotein -- were expressed at significantly high levels in oral cancers," said Dr. Kalu Ogbureke, an oral and maxillofacial pathologist in the MCG School of Dentistry. "Following that discovery, we began to research the potential role of SIBLINGs in oral lesions before they become invasive cancers." The study, published online this week in the journal Cancer, examined 60 archived surgical biopsies of precancerous lesions sent to MCG for diagnosis and the patients' subsequent health information. Eighty-seven percent of the biopsies were positive for at least one SIBLING protein -- which the researchers discovered can be good or bad, depending on the protein. For instance, they found that the protein, dentin sialophosphoprotein, increases oral cancer risk fourfold, while bone sialoprotein significantly decreases the risk. "The proteins could be used as biomarkers to predict [the potential of a lesion to become cancerous]," said Dr. Ogbureke, the study's lead author. "That is very significant, because we would then be in a position to modify treatment for the individual patient's need in the near future." Precancerous oral lesions, which can develop in [...]

2010-02-23T12:59:57-07:00February, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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DNA test could be key to targeting treatments for head and neck cancer

Source: news.biocompare.com Author: staff It is estimated that more than 7,000 people are diagnosed with head and neck cancer each year in the UK and approximately 3,500 cases result in death. These cancers include tumours of the mouth, lips, throat and voice-box, and some have been linked to the sexually transmitted infection, HPV-16. Scientists at Liverpool analysed the DNA of more than 90 cancerous tissue samples to look for genes that indicated infection. The team found that nearly two thirds of tonsil tumour samples showed evidence of the HPV-16 gene. It is thought that chemical alterations in the virus's DNA trigger the production of proteins that can alter the rate at which cells grow and repair. This strongly increases the possibility of subsequent cancer development. Recent studies have found, however, that patients who have the HPV infection when they are diagnosed with cancer, respond better to chemotherapy or radiation therapy than those that do not have the infection. The work will be presented at the National Cancer Research Institute's (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Birmingham today. Mr Richard Shaw, from the School of Cancer Studies, explains: "Recent evidence demonstrates the possible involvement of HPV in the development of tonsil cancer, particularly in non-smokers. Interestingly, the treatment efficiency of chemotherapy and radiation, seems to differ between HPV positive and negative cases. We also need to find out why only a small percentage of people with this common infection develop this cancer. Our study, however, gives us a new lead towards a risk [...]

2009-10-13T21:04:03-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Detecting subtle changes in cancer cells with nanofluidic biopsy

Source: www.azonano.com Author: staff By taking two standard laboratory techniques—capillary electrophoresis and antibody-based protein detection—and shrinking them to the nanoscale, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have created a new method for detecting miniscule changes in the levels of proteins associated with cancer. In a study published in the journal Nature Medicine, the investigators used their new device to analyze whether individual cancer-associated proteins were present in the tiny samples and even whether modifications of the proteins varied in response to cancer treatments. Although the study focuses on blood cancers, the hope is that the technique also might provide a faster, less invasive way to track solid tumors. “Currently, we don’t know what’s going on in a patient’s tumor cells when a treatment is given,” said Alice C. Fan, M.D., who along with Dean W. Felsher, M.D., headed the team that developed this nanofluidic proteomic immunoassay (NIA) system. “The standard way we measure whether a treatment is working is to wait several weeks to see if the tumor mass shrinks. It would be a leap forward if we could detect what is happening at a cellular level.” Dr. Felsher, who is a member of the Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence Focused on Therapy Response based at Stanford University, added, “This technology allows us to analyze cancer-associated proteins on a very small scale. “Not only can we detect picogram levels—one-trillionth of a gram—of protein, but we also can see very subtle changes in the ways the protein is modified.” [...]

2009-06-27T15:14:25-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Monoclonal Antibody Drugs for Cancer Treatment

Source: www.newswise.com Author: staff The strategy of using monoclonal antibodies for cancer treatment was first described in the late 1970s with the promise that they could be developed into therapies that were highly specific to cancer cells, killing them with few or no side effects. For several types of cancer, monoclonal antibodies have already offered this advantage to patients. For other cancer types, they have provided an additional therapeutic weapon, but with smaller benefits and sometimes new side effects. "The first efforts for monoclonal antibody cancer therapy were to find antibodies that would home in on tumors and bind to proteins on the surface of cancer cells," explained physician-scientist David A. Scheinberg. "We looked for unique proteins that were specific only to cancer cells. The idea was that the antibody would be used to stimulate an immune response in the body, which would kill the cancer cell." Dr. Scheinberg, who is Chair of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Experimental Therapeutics Center and the Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program within the Sloan-Kettering Institute, developed an antibody called M195, which targets a protein on leukemia cells, when working as a research fellow in collaboration with Memorial Sloan-Kettering immunologist Lloyd Old in the 1980s. This approach further evolved when researchers realized they could use the antibody as a carrier to deliver a radioactive isotope or a toxic drug directly to the cancer cell, where it would kill the cell while sparing nearby healthy tissue. Antibodies are proteins that help the immune system to identify foreign substances [...]

2009-04-05T11:28:05-07:00April, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Saliva Proteins May Help Spot Oral Cancer

Source: Smart Now Author: Krisha McCoy FRIDAY, Oct. 3 (HealthDay News) -- A simple test of saliva proteins may one day help doctors detect oral cancer, according to a new study in the Oct. 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research. For their study, part of the U.S. National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research's Human Saliva Proteome Project, researchers collected saliva samples from 64 people with oral squamous cell carcinoma (a form of oral cancer) and 64 healthy people. Looking at five protein biomarkers in the saliva samples, the researchers determined that the biomarkers confirmed the presence of oral cancer 93 percent of the time. "This test is currently not available, but we are developing point-of-care microfluidic devices to detect these markers that we can use in clinical trials," Shen Hu, assistant professor of oral biology and proteomics at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Dentistry, said in an American Association for Cancer Research news release. This research may lead to a simple and noninvasive tool clinicians can use to diagnose oral cancer. "I believe a test measuring these biomarkers will come to a point of regular use in the future," said Hu. "We have demonstrated a new approach for cancer biomarker discovery using saliva proteomics." More information The Oral Cancer Foundation has more about oral cancer.

2009-01-06T15:45:03-07:00January, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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