Cigar Smoking and Risks

4/10/2007 web-based article Richard Johnson Market Day (www.market-day.net) Scientific evidence has shown that cancers of the oral cavity (lip, tongue,mouth, and throat), larynx, lung, and esophagus are associated with cigar smoking. Furthermore, evidence strongly suggests a link between cigar smoking and cancer of the pancreas. In addition, daily cigar smokers,particularly those who inhale, are at increased risk for developing heart and lung disease. Like cigarette smoking, the risks from cigar smoking increase with increased exposure. For example, compared with someone who has never smoked, smoking only one to two cigars per day doubles the risk for oral and esophageal cancers. Smoking three to four cigars daily can increase the risk of oral cancers to more than eight times the risk for a nonsmoker,while the chance of esophageal cancer is increased to four times the risk for someone who has never smoked. Both cigar and cigarette smokers have similar levels of risk for oral, throat, and esophageal cancers. The health risks associated with occasional cigar smoking (less than daily)are not known. About three-quarters of cigar smokers are occasional smokers. One of the major differences between cigar and cigarette smoking is the degree of inhalation. Almost all cigarette smokers report inhaling while the majority of cigar smokers do not because cigar smoke is generally more irritating. However, cigar smokers who have a history of cigarette smoking are more likely to inhale cigar smoke. Cigar smokers experience higher rates of lung cancer, coronary heart disease, and chronic obstructive lung disease than nonsmokers, but [...]

2009-04-15T11:43:35-07:00April, 2007|Archive|

Survival Data Available From ERBITUX(R) Study in First-Line Treatment of Advanced Head and Neck Cancer

4/8/2007 New York, NY press release DrugNews Wire (www.drugnewswire.com) ImClone Systems Incorporated and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced today that a first line Phase III study of ERBITUX (Cetuximab) combined with platinum-based chemotherapy met the primary endpoint of increasing overall survival in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). The randomized, multi-center study, known as EXTREME, studied more than 400 patients treated with ERBITUX in combination either with cisplatin plus 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or carboplatin plus 5-FU, compared to patients treated with cisplatin plus 5-FU or carboplatin plus 5-FU alone. "We are excited by the results of this study, as it is the first large, randomized clinical trial to examine the impact of ERBITUX treatment in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy on overall survival in metastatic head and neck cancer," said Eric Rowinsky, M.D., Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of ImClone Systems. "ERBITUX has already demonstrated improved survival when combined with radiation in locoregionally advanced head and neck cancer." "When ERBITUX was approved for head and neck cancer, it was not only hailed as the first new treatment for the disease in 45 years, but it was also the first drug approved to show a survival benefit in this population. Just one year later, this study adds to the growing body of clinical evidence with ERBITUX in these patients," said Martin Birkhofer, M.D., Vice President, Oncology Global Medical Affairs, Bristol-Myers Squibb. Results from this study have been submitted for presentation at the 2007 American [...]

2009-04-15T11:43:11-07:00April, 2007|Archive|

Women with HPV Grade 3 CIN have Increased Incidence of Anogenital Cancers

4/3/2007 web-based article staff CancerConsultants.com Researchers in Sweden have reported that women with grade 3 cervical intraepithelial neoplasm (CIN) related to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection are also at increased risk for the development of cancer of the vagina, vulva and anus. The details of this study appeared in the April, 2007 issue of Lancet Oncology.[1] Human papilloma viruses are probably the sole cause of cancers of the cervix and have been associated with cancers of the anogenital tract in homosexual men. Epidemiologic and molecular biology studies have also suggested that HPV infection may be associated with cancers of the head and neck. The purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship between HPV related cervical CIN and other anogenital cancers. The main impetus of this study was to determine the possible effects of the newly available HPV vaccine on cancers other than cervical. These authors compared the incidence of cancer of the vagina, vulva and anus in women with CIN to those without CIN. This data base included all women in Sweden aged 18-50 in the years 1968 to 2004. These authors reported that women with grade 3 CIN had a 6.7 fold increase in the incidence of cancer of the vagina, 2.2 fold increased incidence of cancer of the vulva and a 4.68 fold increase in the incidence of anal cancer. They did not find an increased incidence of rectal cancer. They found that the increased incidence of these malignancies was age dependent and increased with time [...]

2009-04-15T11:42:20-07:00April, 2007|Archive|

Red-faced tipplers face cancer risk

4/3/2007 web-based article staff Daily Yomiuri Online (www.yomiuri.co.jp) People whose faces turn red easily when they drink are more vulnerable to throat cancer, according to a study by the World Health Organization. In research published in the April issue of the British medical magazine, the Lancet Oncology, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is affiliated to the WHO, reexamined the causal link between alcohol and cancer for the first time in 20 years, with the latest findings reflected in the study. According to the study, alcohol, or ethanol, is the most significant source of cancer. While an enzyme called ALDH2, a kind of aldehyde dehydrogenates, plays an important role in breaking down alcohol, the study pointed out that people with the enzyme poorly functioning due to partial deficiency increase the risk for throat cancer depending on the amount of alcohol, by up to 12 times more than those with the normal enzyme.

2009-04-15T11:41:57-07:00April, 2007|Archive|

Cancer patients opt for unapproved drug

4/3/2007 web-based article Helen Pearson Nature Magazine (www.nature.com) Internet trade pre-empts clinical trial An experimental cancer drug shrinks tumours in rats with no apparent side effects. The scientists behind the study plan to do a clinical trial in humans, but it could take years to complete. Meanwhile, dying patients begin taking the unapproved drug and collect their results on the web. Both groups desperately want to save lives: but which is the right route to follow? This scenario has been playing out in recent weeks for a compound called dichloroacetate (DCA). It taps into long-running issues about whether terminally ill patients should be able to get access to drugs that have not yet had formal approval. Researchers fear that those taking the drug could suffer unanticipated side effects; patients argue they don't have the luxury of waiting for clinical trials to find out. In January this year, Evangelos Michelakis at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and his colleagues reported that DCA has seemingly remarkable anticancer properties (S. Bonnet et al. Cancer Cell 11, 37–51; 2007). DCA is a small molecule that blocks an enzyme in mitochondria — the energy-production centres in cells — causing more glucose to be metabolized in the mitochondria rather than by a different pathway in the cytoplasm. The compound has been in clinical trials for years as a treatment for certain mitochondrial diseases, but it has not yet been approved. Mitochondria also control cell suicide, and Michelakis wondered whether cancer cells were suppressing these [...]

2009-04-15T11:41:35-07:00April, 2007|Archive|

Diplomacy paying off in the war on cancer

4/3/2007 Houston, TX Eric Berger Houston Chronicle (chron.com) As they completed the "book of life" earlier this decade, scientists with the Human Genome Project declared they had struck upon the path leading toward eventual cures for most diseases. By scribbling down all 3 billion DNA letters of the genetic code, the scientists reasoned, they could ferret out the defective genes in sick patients that explained why diseases such as cancer flourished and ultimately killed their hosts. But less than a decade later, a related science called epigenetics may have begun eclipsing traditional genetics. In epigenetics, it is factors such as diet and smoking, rather than inheritance, that influence how genes behave. A deepening understanding of this process has led to the development of drugs to rehabilitate cancer cells — by wiping away their bad memories — instead of bombing them into submission. "There are more people working now on the epigenetics of cancer than the genetics of cancer," said Jean Pierre Issa, a professor at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. That's a claim not every cancer researcher would support, but it's clear that interest in epigenetics has skyrocketed in recent years. A decade ago, at major cancer meetings, there would be a handful of presentations on epigenetics. Today there are hundreds. And epigenetic therapies now have moved beyond the lab and into the clinic, treating patients. "It's impossible to pick up any scientific journal today and not find at least one epigenetics paper," said Peter Jones, director [...]

2009-04-15T11:38:50-07:00April, 2007|Archive|

A randomized trial of amifostine as radioprotector in the radiotherapy of head and neck cancer

4/2/2007 Istanbul, Turkey D Karacetin et al. J BUON, January 1, 2004; 9(1): 23-6 Purpose: Radiotherapy (RT) for head and neck cancer typically involves the major salivary glands bilaterally and can cause acute and chronic xerostomia and mucositis. The degree of xerostomia has been reported to depend on the radiation dose and the salivary gland volume irradiated. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of the radioprotector amifostine to improve xerostomia and mucositis in head and neck cancer patients who received RT. Patients and Methods: A total of 53 patients with head and neck cancer entered this prospective randomized study. Patients were randomly assigned to undergo RT or RT plus short intravenous (i.v.) infusion of amifostine 210 mg/m(2) before each RT fraction. Results: No statistically significant difference was seen between the 2 arms in terms of mucositis. Acute xerostomia occurred in 31 (93.9%) patients in the amifostine arm and all of the patients in the RT-alone arm (p <0.05). Grade 3 acute xerostomia occurred in 13 (39.3%) patients in the amifostine arm, and in 9 (45%) patients in the RT-alone arm (p=0.04). Late xerostomia occurred in 19 (57.5%) patients in the amifostine arm, and in 14 (70%) patients in RT-alone arm (p=0.03). Conclusion: The administration of amifostine in head and neck cancer patients receiving RT improved significantly acute and late xerostomia, while did not offer protection in the prevention of mucositis. Further prospective studies are needed in order to better define the role of this agent. Authors: D Karacetin, B [...]

2009-04-15T11:38:17-07:00April, 2007|Archive|

Zinc Doesn’t Help Head And Neck Cancer Patients – Study Shows

4/2/2007 web-based article staff Medical News Today (www.medicalnewstoday.com) Zinc sulfate, a supplement thought to be helpful in regaining the sense of taste for some head and neck cancer patients after radiation therapy, has been found to have no significant impact on preventing or curing taste alteration, according to a study released today in the International Journal for Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO). Taste alteration is a common side effect for head and neck cancer patients after radiation therapy. For these patients, usual food flavors taste bland or different, with a few patients losing the sensation of taste altogether. Losing taste sensation can lead to a significant change in eating habits, causing some patient to avoid certain unappealing foods, sometimes leading to additional weight loss at a time when good nutrition is critical. Previous academic studies have suggested that the use of zinc sulfate could help patients regain their sense of taste more quickly after radiation therapy. Doctors in this phase three, multi-institutional, double-blind, placebo-controlled study found that giving patients a zinc sulfate vitamin supplement had little to no effect on the sense of taste for the patients in the study. Over the course of three years, 173 patients were treated for head and neck cancer with traditional radiation therapy. Patients were divided into two groups, one group treated with zinc, the other with placebo. Both groups experienced similar degrees of taste alteration, but doctors reported that there was no significant [...]

2009-04-15T11:37:50-07:00April, 2007|Archive|

New cancer odds calculated

4/1/2007 San Antonio, TX Don Finley MySA.com Slightly fewer than half of all patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer live five years from the moment the doctor delivers the bad news. But those who do survive two or three years out have a better chance of living another five. Doctors just weren't sure exactly how much better that chance was — until now. A San Antonio-led group of researchers has calculated those "conditional" survival rates — the five-year survival odds beginning a year or more after diagnosis — for head and neck cancers (excluding brain cancer), which account for 3 percent to 5 percent of all cancers. Such information has been available for breast, lung, brain, prostate and gastrointestinal cancers, but not head and neck cancer. "Head and neck cancer remains a disease where we still have a lot of progress to make," said Dr. Clifton David Fuller, a radiation oncology resident at the University of Texas Health Science Center and the lead author of the study that appears in the current issue of the American Cancer Society journal, Cancer. "Comparatively, few resources are devoted to it." Head and neck cancers are heavily linked to smoking and alcohol consumption. They're most common in people over age 50. An estimated 39,000 Americans developed head and neck cancers last year. Head and neck cancer sites include the lip, tongue, throat, nasal cavity, middle ear and other places. Most tumors begin in the squamous cells that line the mucous membranes. To calculate [...]

2009-04-15T11:37:24-07:00April, 2007|Archive|
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