11/21/2005 Cold Spring Harbor, NY staff Medical News Today In some cases, the fusion of human cells is a normal process that leads, for instance, to the formation of muscle and bone. Viral infections can also cause cell fusion, but cells fused by viruses are widely considered to be harmless because they are generally believed to die without consequences for the host. According to a recent study, however, cell fusion triggered by viruses is a possible contributing factor in the development of human cancer. The study also raises concerns about the use fusogenic viruses as vectors for human gene therapy or in other clinical applications owing to the possibility that such viruses might cause cancer. The idea that aberrations in the number or structure of chromosomes can spur tumor formation is more than a century old. Such aberrations--known collectively as "aneuploidy"--arise in two principal ways: as a consequence of abnormal cell division, or as a result of cell fusion. By either mechanism, the resulting aneuploid cells no longer have the proper genetic makeup and frequently die. But researchers now know that tumor cells are often aneuploid--and very much alive. Whether aneuploidy is a cause or a consequence of a cancerous cellular state is the crux of a current debate. In a recent study, Dr. Yuri Lazebnik and his colleagues at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory observed, fortuitously, that normal cultured human cells are fused by the action of the Mason-Pfizer Monkey Virus (MPMV), but that the resulting hybrid cells do indeed [...]

11/21/2005 Jantine F Bremmer et al. Laboratory Investigation (2005) 85, 1481-1488 Early diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) may have a major impact on survival and quality of life. Recent studies have shown that the majority of OSCC is preceded by precursor lesions characterized by genetic alterations. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a noninvasive screening test for oral preneoplastic lesions, based on genetic alterations as marker. Various methods to obtain a high yield of cells by brushing a small area of the oral mucosa were compared. A novel genetic assay, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), was applied that enables the measurement of gains and losses at 40 different chromosomal locations in one PCR reaction using 150 ng DNA. MLPA was performed on DNA of normal and dysplastic oral mucosa as well as of OSCC with the intention to select a specific probe set for accurate detection of precursor lesions in the oral cavity. The assay was correlated to loss of heterozygosity analysis using microsatellite markers, and evaluated on noncancer subjects and patients with oral leukoplakia. A noninvasive sampling method was developed with DNA yields ranging from 150 to 600 ng. Using 120 probes, we could detect large differences with MLPA in the number of alterations between normal vs dysplastic and dysplastic vs tumor tissue with P-values <0.001. A significant correlation was found between the number of alterations as detected by MLPA and the analysis for allelic loss. The available data enabled the selection of [...]

11/21/2005 Plantation, FL press release PRNewswire (www.prnewswire.com) Recognizing the importance of early detection and intervention, CIGNA Dental has announced that beginning January 1, 2006, it will cover the oral cancer screening procedure known as a brush biopsy for members enrolled in the CIGNA Dental Care (Dental HMO), CIGNA Dental PPO (DPPO), and CIGNA Traditional (Dental Indemnity) plans. Checking for oral cancer can be done during a regular dental checkup. If the dentist identifies any suspicious oral spots or sores during a visual assessment, a brush biopsy can be performed to detect potentially dangerous cells. Brush biopsy is a painless procedure. The dentist uses a small brush to take a tissue specimen, which is then sent to a laboratory for analysis to determine the presence of pre-cancerous or cancerous cells.(1) "The mouth is considered to be an 'early warning system' for other medical conditions, as well as a potential contributor. CIGNA Dental enables members to use information found through early detection to prevent further complications or disease," said Karen Rohan, president of CIGNA Dental. Oral cancer is the sixth deadliest cancer in America. Despite advances in surgical techniques, radiation treatments and chemotherapy, survival rates remain low when compared to other cancers. While oral cancer most often occurs in those who use tobacco in any form, it has also been found that alcohol use combined with smoking greatly increases risk. However, more than 25% of oral cancers occur in people who do not smoke and have no other risk factors.(1) Avoiding diagnosis [...]

11/21/2005 England staff BBC News (bbc.co.uk) Growing alcohol use is causing a steep rise in mouth cancer cases, experts have warned just days before the planned extension of pub opening hours. One-time child star Jack Wild, 53, communicates to others through his wife Claire since he lost his voice three years ago. The seasoned actor had to have his voice box - the larynx - and tongue removed because he developed mouth cancer, which could not be beaten with radiotherapy alone. It was a huge blow to Jack, who was nominated for an Oscar at the age of 16 for his famous performance as the Artful Dodger in the 1968 movie version of Oliver! But he is grateful that the cancer has not returned a second time and says it is vital that other people recognise the signs and symptoms of this increasingly common cancer. Currently, nearly 4,500 people have mouth cancer in the UK. Like Jack, many develop it because of a lifestyle of heavy drinking and smoking. Jack said: "Until I was diagnosed with mouth cancer, I'd never heard of it. What I learned very quickly was that my lifestyle had made me a walking time bomb. I was a heavy smoker and an even heavier drinker and apparently together they are a deadly mixture." The only warning Jack had that something might be wrong was a pain in the ear that would not go away. He put it down to his busy work schedule and his frequent [...]

11/20/2005 Baltimore, MD Hilary White LifeSite (www.lifesite.net) US researchers studying the effects of human papilloma virus (HPV), a leading cause of cervical cancer in women, have found a connection between the virus and instances of mouth tumours. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University compared 1,670 patients who had oral cancers to 1,732 healthy people and HPV was found in a small number of the cancer patients. Those infected carried HPV16, the most common strain of the virus, which in Britain is estimated to infect one fifth of women between 18 and 25. The study showed that people with mouth tumours containing the HPV16 strain were three times more likely to have had oral sex than those whose tumours did not contain the virus. Raphael Viscidi, a virologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said that the study is very decisive. "This is a major study in terms of its size," he says. "I think this will convince people." While the US researchers said there was no need for people to alter their behaviour, this was not the line taken by the head of a similar study in Sweden. Dentist and researcher Kerstin Rosenquist headed a smaller study conducted at the Malmoe University Faculty of Odontology in southern Sweden that showed the same connection between HPV and oral sex. Rosenquist found that 36% of the cancer patients were carriers of HPV while only 1% of the control group had the virus. She said, "You should avoid having oral sex." "In recent [...]

11/20/2005 London, England James Meikle Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au) More than a third of cancer deaths worldwide have preventable causes that could be tackled by changing people's behaviour and environment, a study has found. The impact of smoking on several cancers is well known, but alcohol use, unsafe sex, low fruit and vegetable intake, obesity, lack of exercise, contaminated injections and indoor smoke from fuels are also risks that could be reduced. Majid Ezzati, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues suggest in the medical journal The Lancet that health interventions could prevent a "substantial proportion" of the 7 million cancer deaths a year, and be more effective in reducing mortality than screening and ever-improving treatments. Smoking is a factor in 21 per cent of all cancer deaths, especially in men, they say, with alcohol and low fruit and vegetable intake accounting for 5 per cent each. Sexual transmission of the human papilloma virus is a leading risk factor for cervical cancer in low- and middle-income countries, especially where screening is limited, although there are hopes that vaccines will soon be widely available. The researchers say smoking is linked to deaths from lung, bronchial and tracheal cancers, oesophageal cancers and oral cancers. Oesophageal cancer deaths and oral cancer deaths are also linked to alcohol. They based their figures on a review of published studies, government reports and international databases, as well as a reanalysis of primary data. Problems with missing information meant they did not include [...]

11/17/2005 Shanghai, China press release Genetic Engineering News (www.genengnews.com/news) Shanghai Sunway Biotech Co. Ltd. announced today that the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has approved H101, an oncolytic adenovirus, to be used in combination with chemotherapy as a treatment for patients with late stage refractory Nasopharyngeal cancer, a type of head and neck cancer prevalent in China. This marks the first oncolytic viral therapy approved by any regulatory agency in the world. H101 is a modified adenovirus, a type of common cold virus found in most people. The deletion of an E1B-55kd segment in the virus results in its ability to selectively replicate in and kill tumor cells, while leaving normal cells unaffected. The therapy has a very good safety profile -- for most patients the main side effect is fever. The SFDA approval is based on a multi-center, randomized parallel-group study comparing 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin-based chemotherapy with and without H101. The H101 study group demonstrated a 27% increase in the number of patients who had complete or partial tumor size reduction compared to the control group. "We welcome the SFDA's approval of H101, and we are pleased that cancer patients in China can now benefit from this innovative treatment," said Fang Hu, M.D., Sunway's president and chief executive officer. "Moving forward, we will continue the clinical trials to test for H101's additional indications including non-small cell lung cancer. At the same time, we are preparing to take the therapy to the world market. Sunway is well-positioned to [...]

11/16/2005 Germany Samer G. Hakim et al. Cancer Research 65, 10486-10493, November 15, 2005 The aim of this study was to evaluate the individual and the synergetic radioprotective effect of lidocaine, amifostine, and pilocarpin on the parotid gland. Forty-nine rabbits were randomized into seven groups (n = 7)—control, irradiated sham-treated, irradiated/lidocaine–pretreated, irradiated/amifostine–pretreated, irradiated/pilocarpin–pretreated, irradiated/lidocaine + pilocarpin–pretreated, and irradiated/amifostine + pilocarpin–pretreated groups. One week before irradiation (15 Gy) and 72 hours as well as 1 month afterward, the parotid gland was investigated morphologically, sialoscintigraphically, and immunohistochemically with the use of tenascin-C and smooth muscle actin. Compared with control animals, there was a significant reduction of the salivary ejection fraction in the irradiated untreated group 72 hours following radiation. Only animals pretreated with lidocaine or amifostine (alone or combined with pilocarpin) showed a slight nonsignificant reduction of salivary ejection fraction. Immunohistochemically, we observed a significant loss of smooth muscle actin and an up-regulation of tenascin-C expression in irradiated/untreated glands. These changes were less evident in animals pretreated with lidocaine or lidocaine + pilocarpin. Amifostine and pilocarpin did not show any influence on tenascin-C or smooth muscle actin expression. Ultrastructural damage was observed in irradiated untreated and pilocarpin–pretreated glands. In contrast, lidocaine and amifostine could largely preserve the glandular ultrastructure. One month postradiation, all changes were regressive regardless of treatment protocol. Potential radioprotective agents show different effects on both morphology and function of the parotid gland. Associated immunohistochemical and ultrastructural findings could prove the prevailed protection profile of lidocaine. This may provide a [...]

11/16/2005 Philadellphia, PA staff NewsWise (www.newswise.com) During the past decade, several new drugs have been approved that target specific genes and molecules, increasing survival for many cancer patients. Not only are these drugs often more effective than the current standards of care, they also carry an added benefit of fewer side effects. Many believe that a new generation of targeted therapies will be the first choice for cancer care in the future, with the goal of tailoring treatment to individual tumors and patients. Clinical studies with several molecularly targeted drugs are being featured at the Annual International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics coordinated by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). These include: 1. A Phase III trial, which has found that cetuximab (Erbitux) and radiotherapy improves disease control and survival rates for a specific category of advanced head and neck cancers. 2. A Phase II study, offering encouraging results that temsirolimus, a derivative of the immunosuppressant drug rapamycin, may be effective against recurrent and metastatic endometrial cancer. Cetuximab Improves Locoregional Control and Survival of Locoregionally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer: Independent Review of Mature Data with a Median Follow-up of 45 Months (Abstract 2628) Head and neck cancers account for three percent of diagnosed cancers in the United States, and almost 13,000 people will die each year from the disease. A majority of these cancers begin in cells lining the head [...]

11/16/2005 Philadelphia, PA press release EurekAlert (www.eurekalert.org) A second look at compounds and drugs, some previously used to treat illness and conditions ranging from malaria to contraception, is giving new life to several abandoned therapies and new applications for existing drugs. From drugs such as the cottonseed extract gossypol, once tested as a male contraceptive in China, to arsenic, which can be made less toxic in an organic form, new applications are being investigated for effectiveness against solid tumors of various types. A press briefing features at the "Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics" International Conference here is spotlighting a few of these compounds and drugs that are undergoing recycling as possible cancer treatments. These include: Thalidomide, a notorious drug once linked to birth defects that is undergoing patient testing in combination with a growth factor against prostate cancer. A drug developed as an insecticide now helping scientists to understand the microtubule assembly process that is important for pancreatic cancer cell growth. Gossypol, once touted as a potential male contraceptive, may find a new use -- helping certain head and neck cancers overcome their resistance to cisplatin. An organic form of arsenic that is showing some potential as a treatment for solid tumors. Drugs currently used around the globe to treat people infected with malaria may address a critical cell nutrition issue with proliferating cancer cells. Overcoming Cisplatin Resistance in Head and Neck Cancer by Targeting Bcl-xL Using a Novel Small Molecule (Abstract 3256) In nature, cotton seed produces two forms [...]