2009 – Page 23 – Oral Cancer News

Snuff and chewing tobacco linked to increased risk of fatal MI or stroke

Source: WebMD Author: Marlene Busko Lyon, France - Smokeless tobacco—such as snuff and chewing tobacco—is not harmless when it comes to heart health, according to a new meta-analysis [1]. A review of 11 studies from Sweden and the US, almost entirely in men, showed that smokeless-tobacco users had an increased risk of death from MI or stroke. The study, by researchers at the International Agency for Research on Cancer(IARC), is published online August 18, 2009 in BMJ. Contrary to common belief that smokeless tobacco has very little effect on health, these products have been shown to increase cancer risk, coauthor and IARC researcher Dr Kurt Straif (Lyon, France) told heartwire. "There is sufficient evidence for a causal association between smokeless tobacco and oral and pancreatic cancer [2] and probably also esophageal cancer [3]," he said. "Now, this study adds evidence that smokeless tobacco causes death from cardiovascular diseases," Straif summarized. Widespread, growing use of snus Types of smokeless tobacco used in North America and Europe include dry snuff that is inhaled, as well as moist snuff (called snus in Sweden) and chewing tobacco (or spit tobacco), which are sucked inside the cheek. These products have been around for centuries, and after a decline in consumption for most of the 20th century, use has rebounded in the past few decades, the authors write. In 2000, 23.9% of men and 4.1% of women in Sweden reported using snus daily or occasionally. In the same year, in the US, 4.4% of men and 0.3% of women were [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-08-19T12:14:50-07:00August, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Taste and smell disorders caused by cancer or treatments add to patients’ problems

Source: www.oncologynursingnews.com Author: Delicia Yard Although the mechanisms underlying abnormalities in the senses of taste and smell in cancer patients are unknown, such disturbances clearly decrease quality of life for the majority of cancer patients—and clinicians need to be aware of the problem in order to help a person's recovery. This is the word from a study recently published in The Journal of Supportive Oncology (2009;7:58-65). Jae Hee Hong, PhD, Pinar Omur-Ozbek, PhD, Brian T. Stanek, and coinvestigators from Wake Forest University Comprehensive Cancer Center and Virginia Tech's food science and technology department and biomedical engineering school conclude, “Oncologists who understand the types and causes of taste and olfactory abnormalities may be better prepared to discuss and empathize with these negative side effects.” Altered sensory perception can undermine a person's struggle against cancer by causing malnutrition and anxiety. One study cited by Dr Hong and colleagues found that malnutrition, not malignancy, was the primary cause of morbidity in 20% of cancer patients. Dr Hong and colleagues explain that disorders of taste and odor can result from cancer itself or from cancer treatments, with 68% of chemotherapy patients reporting such problems. But the specific causes of these alterations often remain unidentified. How Senses Go Bad According to the researchers, problems with taste and smell break down into 3 categories: loss of sensitivity, distorted perception, and hallucination. The abnormalities may take the following forms: • absence of taste perception (ageusia) or odor perception (anosmia) • reduced sensitivity to taste perception (hypogeusia) or [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-08-19T12:07:17-07:00August, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Oral cancer risks that may surprise you

Source: www.examiner.com Author: staff "I am a non-smoker; I do not need to worry about Oral Cancer... right?" Not exactly... Oral Cancer is a debilitating and frightful disease that affects 34,000 new Americans each year. Approximately one person dies of oral cancer each hour and it is estimated that 8,000 will die this year. Of the 34,000 diagnosed in 2009, less than half will live to see 2014. The mortality rate of Oral Cancer is higher than that of Cervical, Testicular and Malignant Melanoma (Skin Cancer). Although Oral Cancer is not addressed as often as other forms of cancer, it is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Many associate Oral Cancer to tobacco use, which is the main risk factor along with excessive alcohol consumption. However, 25% of new Oral Cancer patients do not possess these risk factors. Because of the aggressive nature of the disease, early diagnosis is crucial. Therefore knowing all the risk factors will enable individuals to become proactive in their oral health. Risk factors of Oral Cancer include: Tobacco: Especially "chewing" tobacco, this is thought to contribute to Oral Cancers in the young (less than forty years of age). Alcohol: Consuming three or more alcohol beverages per day increases your risk for Oral Cancer development. Diabetes: It is thought that those individuals who are diabetic are at an increased risk because of compromised immune systems. Human Papilloma Virus: HPV-16 increases the risk for Oral Cancer (it is the same form of HPV that is responsible [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-08-19T07:23:25-07:00August, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil still faces questions

Source: www.philly.com Author: Marie McCullough Three years after the world's first cervical-cancer vaccine was hailed as a public-health breakthrough, Gardasil is facing renewed questions about its safety and value. In today's Journal of the American Medical Association, federal researchers analyze 12,424 voluntary reports of post-vaccination "adverse events" ranging from headaches to deaths. They conclude that only two complaints - fainting and dangerous blood clots -- are more common than expected and may be related to the immunization. But an accompanying editorial points out that many questions about Gardasil remain - key among them, whether it really will reduce the toll of cervical cancer. Another opinion piece in JAMA looks at Merck & Co.'s marketing strategy, contending the company coopted professional medical societies to promote and recommend the vaccine. Merck - already on the defensive over Gardasil's second-quarter sales, which slumped sharply in the United States and worldwide - said in a statement that "we welcome continued study and discussion" of the product's safety. "The bottom line is that Gardasil has a very positive benefit-risk profile," Richard M. Haupt, head of Merck's clinical program for the vaccine, said in an interview. Gardasil, a series of three shots, protects against two strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) that cause 70 percent of cervical-cancer cases. Gardasil also wards off two other HPV strains that cause 90 percent of genital warts in men and women. Next month, advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will consider whether to recommend expanding Gardasil's current [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-08-19T06:37:56-07:00August, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Michigan health leaders target growing hookah use

Source: www.detnews.com Author: Kim Kozlowski Everybody that Rola Rayes knows smokes the ornate water pipe that has become popular in Metro Detroit and around the world. But no one realizes the dangers linked to the pipe, known here as a hookah, because it is so ingrained in her Middle Eastern culture. Rayes, 17, has been trying to convince her family and friends about the personal health risks of water pipe smoke, and second-hand smoke to others. "It's a very big problem," said Rayes, a Dearborn resident who moved here in 2005 from Lebanon. "This is affecting me, it is affecting my brothers and it is affecting them." Rayes joined state and local health leaders Thursday to strategize ways to tackle a growing state problem of hookah smoking. They are trying to stop the use of hookah pipes as research about the risks continues to mount. For example, smoking the hookah for an hour can yield as much smoke as 100 or more cigarettes. It contains significantly more nicotine and carbon monoxide than cigarette smoke, and use by pregnant woman can contribute to low birth weights, according to recent studies. "It's spread and is being used widely among different age groups and across ethnicities," said Dinah Ayna, coordinator of the forum, organized by the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services. No research into hookah use existed before 2002, according to Wasim Maziak, director of the Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies in the Middle East. But his center alone has [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-08-19T06:18:17-07:00August, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Xenograft models of head and neck cancers

Source: 7thspace.com Author: Daisuke Sano, Jeffrey Myers Head and neck cancers are among the most prevalent tumors in the world. Despite advances in the treatment of head and neck tumors, the survival of patients with these cancers has not markedly improved over the past several decades because of our inability to control and our poor understanding of the regional and distant spread of this disease. One of the factors contributing to our poor understanding may be the lack of reliable animal models of head and neck cancer metastasis. The earliest xenograft models in which human tumor cells were grown in immunosuppressed mice involved subcutaneous implantation of human head and neck cancer cell lines. Subcutaneous xenograft models have been popular because they are easy to establish, easy to manage, and lend themselves to ready quantitation of the tumor burden. More recently, orthotopic xenograft models, in which the tumor cells are implanted in the tumor site of origin, have been used with greater frequency in animal studies of head and neck cancers. Orthotopic xenograft models are advantageous for their ability to mimic local tumor growth and recapitulate the pathways of metastasis seen in human head and neck cancers. In addition, recent innovations in cell labeling techniques and small-animal imaging have enabled investigators to monitor the metastatic process and quantitate the growth and spread of orthopically implanted tumors. This review summarizes the progress in the development of murine xenograft models of head and neck cancers. We then discuss the advantages and disadvantages of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-08-19T06:09:41-07:00August, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Chewing tobacco may cause mouth cancer rise

Source: www.dentistry.co.uk Author: staff Tobacco chewing is causing an ‘alarming' rise in cases of mouth cancer in east London, health chiefs warned today. Chewing paan, a mixture of tobacco and areca nut, is leading to a high number of patients in the Bangladeshi community in the London borough of Tower Hamlets being diagnosed, experts at Barts & The London School of Medicine and Dentistry in Whitechapel have revealed. The findings emerged in a screening programme in the East End, led by Bart's, when 1,300 people were tested for early signs of mouth cancer. Most were from the Bengali community. One in 15 people were referred for further investigation. The findings come in the same week that figures suggest that, nationally, alcohol is largely to blame for the rise in the rate of oral cancers among men and women in their forties. The figures, released by Cancer Research UK, showed that since the mid-1990s, rates of oral cancers have gone up by 28% for men in their forties and 24% for women. Anand Lalli, a clinical lecturer in oral surgery, said: ‘In parts of south Asia where paan usage is widespread, oral cancer is one of the commonest causes of death from all cancers. If oral cancer is caught early on, there is a good chance of curing it. But it becomes far less easy to treat the longer it is left.' A team from the Centre for Clinical and Diagnostic Oral Sciences used a mobile dental unit to tour areas [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-08-19T06:03:17-07:00August, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Head and neck cancer treatment

Source: Author: A laboratory study by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in Bronx, NY, suggests that an anti-cancer compound studied for treating blood cancers may also help in treating cancers of the head and neck [The Journal of Pathology, 218(4): 467-477]. Head and neck cancer refers to tumors in the mouth, throat, or larynx (voice box). Each year about 40,000 men and women develop head and neck cancer in the U.S., making it the country's sixth-most common type. Surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation are the main treatment options but can cause serious side effects. Better treatments are needed, since only about half of patients with head and neck cancer survive for five or more years after diagnosis. The study involved a new class of chemotherapy agents known as histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, which affect the availability of genes that are transcribed and translated into proteins. In many types of cancer, out-of-control cell growth results from certain genes that are either too active or not active enough in producing proteins. HDAC inhibitors appear to combat cancer by restoring the normal expression of key regulatory genes that control cell growth and survival. The researchers focused on a particular HDAC inhibitor known as LBH589 that has already shown some success in clinical trials involving people with cancers of the blood. The researchers found that LBH589 succeeded in killing tumor cells that had been removed from head and neck cancer patients and grown in the laboratory. "This report shows that [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-08-18T19:19:21-07:00August, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Post-treatment pain in head and neck cancer patients may be associated with recurrence, lower survival rate

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com Author: staff Patients with head and neck cancer who experience a higher level of post-treatment pain appear to have a lower survival rate than those who experience little or no post-treatment pain, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Pain is an important but infrequently analyzed symptom in head and neck cancer and may play a predictive role in recurrence and survivorship outcomes," according to background information in the article. "Failure to investigate substantial changes in pain symptoms or new-onset pain that develops following treatment may potentially delay the diagnosis of recurrent disease." Joseph Scharpf, M.D., and colleagues at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, examined results from 339 patients who participated in the Department of Otolaryngology's Outcomes Assessment Project, conducted between 1998 and 2001. Participants provided information about their health and quality of life at diagnosis and three, six, nine and 12 months later. Participants also rated their post-treatment pain at follow-up. Of the 339 patients, 233 were men (68.7 percent) with an average age of 60.8. "Most had primary disease (84.4 percent), advanced-stage disease (59.9 percent) and oral cavity (42.2 percent) or laryngeal (23.3 percent) tumors. Most received surgical treatment alone (37.2 percent) or combined with radiotherapy," the authors write. "Pain was associated with age, general physical and mental health conditions, depressive symptoms, survival rate and recurrence within the first year," the authors note. "The five-year survival rate was 81.8 percent for patients [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-08-18T17:58:16-07:00August, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Screening could lead to more potent cancer drugs

Source: nytimes.com Author: Nicholas Wade Researchers have discovered a way to identify drugs that can specifically attack and kill cancer stem cells, a finding that could lead to a new generation of anticancer medicines and a new strategy of treatment. Many researchers believe that tumor growth is driven by cancerous stem cells that, for reasons not understood, are highly resistant to standard treatments. Chemotherapy agents may kill off 99 percent of cells in a tumor, but the stem cells that remain can make the cancer recur, the theory holds, or spread to other tissues to cause new cancers. Stem cells, unlike mature cells, can constantly renew themselves and are thought to be the source of cancers when, through mutations in their DNA, they throw off their natural restraints. A practical test of this theory has been difficult because cancer stem cells are hard to recognize and have proved elusive targets. But a team at the Broad Institute, a Harvard-M.I.T. collaborative for genomics research, has devised a way of screening for drugs that attack cancer stem cells but leave ordinary cells unharmed. Cancer stem cells are hard to maintain in sufficient numbers, but the Broad Institute team devised a genetic manipulation to keep breast cancer stem cells trapped in the stem cell state. The team, led by Piyush B. Gupta, screened 16,000 chemicals, including all known chemotherapeutic agents approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The team reported in the Thursday issue of Cell that 32 of the chemicals selectively went [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-08-14T11:27:04-07:00August, 2009|Oral Cancer News|